Borko Baraban, Dejan Varga: ON THE CROATIAN BORDER – CHARACTER REPRESENTATION THROUGH LINGUISTIC AND CULTURAL IDENTITY IN THE NOVEL CIGANIN, ALI NAJLJEPŠI
Original paper
Borko Baraban, Academy of Arts and Culture in Osijek, Croatia
Dejan Varga, Ljudevit Gaj Primary School, Osijek, Croatia
DOI: https://doi.org/10.59014/QSJT9245
Keywords:
character, culture, identity, Kristian Novak, langugae
Abstract
With his novel Ciganin, ali najljepši [Gypsy, But the Fairest of Them All], whose first
edition was published in 2016, Kristian Novak added his voice to the debate about
the contemporary situation in the society haunted by transitions, migration, corruption,
intolerance, and identity questioning. Assuming that various identity categories,
such as culture, heritage, language, religion and so on, are the building blocks
of cultural identity, the question is to what extent cultural identity has the ability
of self- determination and existence, and to what extent it is dominated by other
identities. The topic of this research paper is centred around the literary presentation
of Sandi, a fictional character, through the prism of linguistic and cultural identity.
Even though he was, tentatively speaking, presented as a typical Roma man from
a rural community in Međimurje, a representation of a new and different identity,
shaped in deviation of the established ethnic boundaries, resides deep within him.
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