Politics of Representations: Snow Man and Bait by David Albahari

The thesis analyzes stereotypes about the Balkans in two novels, Snow Man (1995) and Bait (1996), by contemporary Serbian writer David Albahari (b. 1948), and how these assumptions, mostly imposed by the West and its tradition of reading the East/the Balkans, are internalized or problematized in these works. This thesis also includes a new, original interview with Albahari conducted by the thesis author. The thesis addresses a change in Albahari’s poetics from metafiction typical for the 1970s and 1980s, to epic forms, which encapsulate the totality of historical experience, in the 1990s. Ultimately, the thesis points out a paradox in Albahari’s works. Although he and his characters adamantly claim that they want to escape from history and the limitations it imposes on an individual, they are defined by a specific historical context (war) and cultural context (the Balkans). The novels suggest that it is not only impossible to overcome a dominant negative discourse about the Balkans, but also that identity is always defined by a historical and cultural context of which an individual is a part. In addition, Snow Man is based on visual metaphors while Bait is based on aual Albahari claims that intercultural understanding is unattainable because it is rooted in stereotypes, although, paradoxically, he allows a possibility that stereotypes represent a provisional identity form.