Vassilis Alexakis and Dumitru Tsepeneag

otherness and exile

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.60056/CCL.2017..110-119

Keywords:

Balkan literatures, migration, identity, otherness, Vassilis Alexakis, Dumitru Tsepeneag

Abstract

The paper displays and analyses the characteristics of the writing of two authors from the Balkans who immigrated to France in the 1960s and 1970s – Vassilis Alexakis (of Greek descent) and Dumitru Tsepeneag (of Romanian descent). The study traces their critical reception in both France and the lost motherland and outlines certain peculiar features of the immigrant mentality and the complicated self-perception of the immigrants in the context of the dual reality of their existence. It also addresses the causes of the inability of the writers themselves and their literary characters to belong fully to one cultural heritage, and the identity issues that arise from this fact.

Author Biography

  • Darina Felonova, Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski"

    Darina Felonova has a PhD in Comparative Literature and a Master’s Degree in Balkan Studies from Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski, Department of General, Indo-European, and Balkan Linguistics with the Faculty of Slavic Studies. Recent publications: “I travel myself“– nomadic motives originating from the Balkans. – Colloquia Comparativa Litterarum, Vol. 2–1, p. 38–45. http://ejournal.uni-sofia.bg/index.php/Colloquia/article/view/26/21: Мигрантската идентичност в творчеството на Василис Алексакис и Думитру Цепеняг. – В: Балканските езици, литератури и култури. Дивергенция и конвергенция. София, Университетско издателство „Св. Климент Охридски“, 2015, с. 477–484. [The migrant identity in the works by Vassilis Alexakis and Dumitru Tsepeneag. – In: Balkan Languages, Literatures and Cultures. Divergence and Convergence. Sofia University Press, 2015, p. 477–484.] She is currently coordinator and assistant editor of Sofia University e-journal Colloquia Comparativa Litterarum.

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Published

2025-11-06

Issue

Vol. 3 (2017)

Section

Pars pro toto. Proceedings of the Literature Session of the 11th CONGRESS OF SOUTH-EAST EUROPEAN STUDIES

License

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How to Cite

Vassilis Alexakis and Dumitru Tsepeneag: otherness and exile. (2025). Colloquia Comparativa Litterarum, 3, 110-119. https://doi.org/10.60056/CCL.2017..110-119