ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a comparative analysis of literary works of authors from Albania and Kosovo translated to Serbian from 2000 onwards. It locates the representation of the figure of the Other by analyzing cultural-political references to conflictual situations that are found in these books. The chapter is divided into sections according to literary genres of the analyzed books (novels, short fiction, poetry, drama) and according to the milieu referred by the authors (Albania and Kosovo). The basic difference between authors from Albania and Kosovo is that the former is dominated by the political Other while the latter is pervaded by the ethnic Other. Authors from Albania are preoccupied by the phenomenon of auto-isolationist Albanian totalitarianism, whereas authors from Kosovo are obsessed by the trauma of the Serbian-Albanian 1998–1999 war in Kosovo. Serbian-Albanian relations are presented as relations of collective distance and deep mistrust, without examples of achieved interethnic friendship or love ties. The works in question also show strong resistance to political authoritarianism and patriarchal collectivism in the form of critical satire, as well as religious tolerance and refuting revanchism.
