Language markers of the Slovak cultural code in the translation of the German-language novel by Irena Brežná “The Thankless Stranger” into Russian

Abstract

In the novel “The Thankless Stranger”, written in German, the Slovak-Swiss writer Irena Brežná demonstrates the path of the search for national identity. Through reflections on the languages, cultures, and mentalities of the two peoples, the author manages to find some reference points to define national identity. Identifying the collective self-consciousness with the individual one, in the novel the writer builds a dichotomy of the emigrant’s personal national identity through gender, age and language self-determination. This work is carried out by means of artistic language, through the fabric of which two cultural codes collide: The native and the host. The novel traces descriptions of the Slovak and the German languages, comparisons of their grammatical structure, features of their lexicons, nuances and differences in the use of certain language units. Studying the linguistic features of a new culture, the main character follows the path of accepting a new country. Starting from the differences in the two languages, the heroine of Brežná develops a new double identity of an emigrant. Brežná emphasizes that it is through “meeting with another” that one can see the hidden face of one’s own identity, thus accepting a new homeland, without losing her original one.