Authors

Discussion

This paper explores the representation of borders and borderlands in contemporary Slavic literature through the works of Kapka Kassabova and Andrii Kurkov. Kassabova’s “Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe” (2017, English translation 2024) combines travel writing, memoir and historical reflection to examine the shifting political and cultural boundaries of the Balkans, where borders are not only geographical but also psychological and symbolic. 

Kurkov’s novel “Grey Bees” (2018, English translations 2020, 2022), set in the war-torn “grey zone” of Eastern Ukraine, offers a fictional yet deeply human perspective on life at the margins of conflict, where questions of identity, belonging, and survival are negotiated daily.

By analyzing these texts, the paper highlights how contemporary Slavic writers engage with the concept of borders as spaces of tension, hybridity and negotiation. Both works challenge static notions of national and cultural identity, instead portraying the border as a site of encounter, vulnerability, and resilience. 

The discussion will demonstrate how literature can serve as a lens to better understand the lived realities of borderlands in today’s Europe, as well as the broader political and existential questions they raise.