Trauma, transition and feminism : Representation of the 1990's nationalism in the work of Slavenka Drakulić and Dubravka Ugrešić
Abstract
The paper deals with the representation of the 1990's nationalism in the work of Slavenka Drakulić and Dubravka Ugrešić. It also distinguish the contradiction of feminist-oriented "women's writing", whose dynamics is based on experiencing periphery, political and cultural confrontation of negative perceptions and discriminatory practices in "decadent socialism" discourse, against neo-conservative transition of the 1990's based on sterotyphical constructs of patriotic "Croats" that stands against politically laden "Yugoslav" identity of the "brotherhood and unity".
We are particularly interested in the subversive feminist standpoint that reflects political "women's narrative" through the notion towards semi-autobiographical narrative model, that discusses the strategies of nationalistic patriarchal discourse based on collective myths assigned to patriotic woman (in the roles of mother, sister or victim). Although the paper focuses mainly on the literary analysis in the context of Croatian prose, it is constructed from an interdisciplinary perspective that is related to the broader problem of gender in culture and overlapping historical contextualization.
The aim of the paper is not only to describe the building of individual and collective (Croatian against Yugoslav) identities based on cultural stereotypes, but also exemplify on cultural and political displacement of Slavenka Drakulić and Dubravka Ugrešić atmosphere of Croatian transition.