LIMINALITY AND IMMIGRATION IN ALEC PATRIĆ’S SHORT STORY COLLECTION THE RATTLER AND OTHER STORIES

Abstract

This paper focuses on the analysis of Alec Patrić’s The Rattler and Other Stories, a short story collection published in 2011. The interpretation is based on theories grounded on immigraton and spaces of liminality. Firstly, the aim of this paper is to explore these two concepts and to connect them with expatriate experiences depicted in the literature of Serbian diaspora in Australia. Moreover, the attempt of this research is to explain the complex and unstable status of immigrants during the transitional period, dealing with the subject of their individual, national and cultural identity. Considering that these changes are of a liminal character, the recognition of such places in Patrić’s stories, both physical and mental, is the backbone of this paper. Although Australian literature promotes cultural diversity in social and creative environment, the literature of Serbian diaspora still remains little known to wider audience. By exploring the content of the stories, whose author combines Australian and former Yugoslav identity, this paper attempts to incorporate diasporic literature in a broader context and to interpret it in a new light. In this day and age immigration is a common experience, yet transformative enough to reshape the identity as a consequence of liminal transition. Accordingly, the immigration enriches the cultural ambience with a potential to overcome differences made within a process of liminality. Alec Patrić’s The Rattler and Other Stories can be