STEREOTYPES IN THE LITERATURE OF ALMA M. KARLIN

Že od nekdaj se od neznanega, tujega, tistega kar nam ni blizu, radi oddaljimo. S tem ostajamo nevedni, svojo nevednost nadomeščamo z lastnimi predstavami, ideologijami časa, svojimi ali vsiljenimi željami in pričakovanji. Lahko pa s priznavanjem drugačnosti rušimo stereotipne predstave, ki nastajajo s pomočjo množične "reprodukcije" in so odraz "okusa", naravnanosti trenutnega zgodovinskega trenutka. Zato stereotipi povedo več o tistem, ki jih izreka, kot o tistem, ki so mu namenjeni. Ker je bila Alma M. Karlin svetovna popotnica, ki je v začetku 20. stoletja prepotovala domala cel svet in je snov s potovanja med drugim uporabila v potpisih in kratki prozi, se je na poti srečevala s pripadniki različnih ras, kultur in verovanj. Idealno področje za stereotipe, saj se le-ti v njeni literaturi, ki sem jo analizirala, vrstijo eden za drugim. Karlinova nikakor ni ostajala nepristranska, ko je pisala o tujih ljudeh, njihovem telesnem izgledu in značaju, njihovih različnih področjih kulture ter o njihovi religiji, vendar je brez izjeme s kritično noto ošvrknila tudi pripadnike "svoje" rase. Še toliko manj je lahko ostala nepristranska, saj je vsakovrstno drugačnost (večkrat tisto z negativnim predznakom) občutila na lastni koži. Šlo je za trk dveh tujih svetov, tujih kultur, pogledov na svet: Almin svet z drugimi svetovi. Njen je bil zaznamovan z zgodovinskim trenutkom in z edinstvenim osebnim doživetjem, zato je tudi ne smemo prestrogo kritizirati, ko z negativnim, slabšalnim, včasih že rasističnim predznakom piše o drugih. Vse to omili njen stil pisanjaizstopajoča sta ironično distanciranje in črni humor, ki popotnico rešujeta še iz tako obupnih situacij kulturnih nesporazumov, šokov in nenazadnje novih spoznanj, ki rušijo stereotipne predstave s priznavanjem drugačnosti.We have always been keen to move away from what was unfamiliar, unknown to us. This, at the same time, is why we reamain ignorant and make up for the ignorance with our own concepts, ideologies of time, with our own wishes and anticipations and those that are imposed on us. However, by recognising the diversity we can knock down stereotypical concepts that occur with the help of mass "reproduction" and reflect the "taste" and the attitude of a particular moment in time. That is why stereotypes tell us more about the person using them than about person they are aimed at. Since Alma M. Karlin was a traveller, who travelled almost the entire world at the beginning of the 20th century and used the material from her travels in the itineraries and short prose, she met members of various races, cultures and religions during her trips. This was an ideal ground for stereotypes, and there are indeed many to find in literary works of Alma M. Karlin that I analysed. Alma M. Karlin was never impartial whwn she wrote about foreign people, their physical appearance and character, their different cultures and their religionhowever, she was also critical of the members of her "own" race. She also could not stay impartial because she personally experienced various kinds of diversity (often its negative sides as well). This was a conflict of two foreign worlds, foreign cultures and world views: that of Alma\u27s world with the other worlds. Her world was characterised by the historic moment and unique personal experience, which is why she should be spared too strong criticism whwn she writes about others with a negative, derogatory, sometimes even racist tone. All this is compensated for by her style of writingits dominant features are her ironical distancing and black humor that helped her make it through even the most desperate situations of cultural misunderstandings, shocks and, last but not least, new realizations that overthrow stereotypes by recognizing diversity