Migration Experiences in Contemporary Slovak Fiction (An Analysis of Zuska Kepplová’s Writing)

The article explores the problem of migration prose in Slovak literature and focuses on some aspects of Zuska Kepplová’s books: Buchty švabachom (Buns in the Schwabacher) and 57 km od Taškentu (57 km from Tashkent). Some characters of Kepplová’s debut prose, young immigrants from Central Europe living in their new countries, although realising their inferior status of “the Other”, attempt to take adaptive actions and get closer to local culture, while others, on the contrary, close up in the enclave of migrants, refusing to confront the new situation. The majority of the protagonists live in a state of limbo and indeterminacy, and their identity can be described as a hybrid identity. The problem of cultural, social and mental boundaries is also present in Kepplová’s prose, exemplifi ed by the characters of expats from the West migrating to the post-comunist countries. The concept of hybridity is also refl ected in the fragmentary and mosaic composition of the texts, the variety of literary forms and conventions applied. 

The article explores the problem of migration prose in Slovak literature and focuses on some aspects of Zuska Kepplová’s books: Buchty švabachom (Buns in the Schwabacher) and 57 km od Taškentu (57 km from Tashkent). Some characters of Kepplová’s debut prose, young immigrants from Central Europe living in their new countries, although realising their inferior status of “the Other”, attempt to take adaptive actions and get closer to local culture, while others, on the contrary, close up in the enclave of migrants, refusing to confront the new situation. The majority of the protagonists live in a state of limbo and indeterminacy, and their identity can be described as a hybrid identity. The problem of cultural, social and mental boundaries is also present in Kepplová’s prose, exemplifi ed by the characters of expats from the West migrating to the post-comunist countries. The concept of hybridity is also refl ected in the fragmentary and mosaic composition of the texts, the variety of literary forms and conventions applied.