"The World repeats itself in its boredom" : third spaces in Lithuanian literature
LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Dekonstrukcija; Interpretacija; Istorija; Kolonializmas; Lietuvių partizanų karas; Lietuvos partizaninis karas; Nacionaliniai mitai; Nacionalinis mitas; Postkolonializmo diskursas; Postkolonijinis diskursas; Sovietinė okupacija; Sovietų okupacija; Trečioji erdvė; Colonialism; Deconstruction; History; Interpretation; Lithuanian partisan war; National myth; National myths; Post-colonial discourse; Soviet occupation; Third space.
ENIn this paper, Homi Bhabha's notion of the “third space” will be applied to images and topics of fluctuating identity in Marius Ivaškevicius' novel “Žali” ("The Greens", 2002) which is a fascinating example of the productive discussion of dichotomous constellations for Lithuanian and European culture. His novel deconstructs the myth of the Lithuanian partisan war against the Soviet army in the years between 1944 and 1953. The antagonism between the Reds and the Greens is being broken up by topoi of equivalence, likeness and repetition as well as continuing identity games. It represents the artistic opening-up of a “third space” where dualism and essentialism are overcome. This “third space”, the Other, is represented as an intellectual space which benefits from the knowledge of both sides of the existing antagonisms by the author. Hence it appears that Russians as well as Lithuanians are both victims and perpetrators, subjugated to totalitarian power structures. Equivalence and likeness as well as the changeability of identity are the basis to see the Other in an open and processual circle of interpretation. [From the publication, p. 180]
