Editorial: Shifting Discourses

With this issue, [sic] examines the frequently unpredictable ways of discourses and unplanned courses they might take, with constant awareness of the different meanings of the very concept of discourse – in linguistics, narrative theory, philosophy, cultural studies. Accordingly, the selected articles are varied in topics they deal with, but they all play with this initial idea. Analyzing Major Pronin stories by Lev Ovalov, Maja Pandžić presents shifts between the mythic, popular, and social, which all converge in the specificities of Ovalov’s text. Ana Gospić Županović examines an art project by Mark Požlep, which in the form of a musical tour moves across borders, discourses, and genres. Duško Petrović offers insights into sovereignty discourse and its changes in the contemporary world. Inspired by Foucault’s theoretical considerations, Danijela Paska analyzes shifts brought upon the mental health discourse by neoliberalism and self-management, referring to the articulation of public policies in Croatia. Finally, analyzing Hariprabha Takeda’s travelogues and memoires, Lipika Kankaria and Sutanuka Banerjee’s article deals with pan-Asian discourse and the role that travel, an act of real physical shifting between different places, played in its construction. This issue also features reviews of two recent publications, Djaimilia Pereira de Almeida’s Luanda, Lisboa, Paraíso (by Helena Glavaš) and Aidan O’Malley’s Irska književnost i kultura, 1600–2000: Stvaralaštvo na jeziku kolonizatora (by Vesna Ukić Košta).

Our translation section, likewise, deals with shifts and turns, which, when one thinks of it, make up the very essence of translation, this magnificent process of moving from and between languages, acquiring new layers, establishing new meanings. Elaine Hsieh Chou’s “Carrot Legs”, translated by Ervin Pavleković and Dijana Jakovac as “Mrkvaste noge”, thus brings a story set in the world of body shaming, not fitting in, searching for somewhere to belong, struggling with one’s identity, heritage, history. Similarly, Anja Glavinić’s marvelous translation of Claudia Rankine’s “Citizen: An American Lyric” is a poetic tale of the rift between “the historical self” and “the self self” and the trauma it entails in the racially divided American society. Will there ever be an end to this age-long struggle for respect, merit, equality? this lyric seems to ask. Luka Huzjak once again returns to [sic] with his translation of Janko Jesenský’s two stories, “Doktor” and “Sunčano kupanje” which, as always, bring unexpected turns and ironic twists, filled with pomp and grandeur that just have to force a smile on one’s face. Mayra Luna’s story of Gloria, translated by Velebita Koričančić, on the other hand, deals with brutality, sexism, and perversion this Mexican wrestler simply cannot escape, no matter how hard she fights. Finally, Stephanie Jug and Sonja Novak bring a translation of Ilija Troyanow’s speech, which due to the pandemic of COVID-19, like so many such things, never took place. Perhaps it should have, the changes, the shifts, the turns it calls for are long overdue.

Editors