Odessa okiem bliskiego i dalekiego przybysza. Dwa obrazy miasta w tomie Odessa transfer. Reportaże znad Morza Czarnego

Abstract

In this essay, we propose a juxtaposition of two images of Odessa – one written by a young Moldavian writer Nicoleta Esinencu and one by an Austrian essayist and literary critic – Karl-Markus Gauss. The texts we analyse come from the volume Odessa transfer. Reportaże znad Morza Czarnego (Odessa Transfer: Reports From the Black Sea), issued in 2009 by the publishing house Czarne. The research perspective taken in this article is essentially comparative. It uses a comparison of two visions of the city through the eyes of outsiders. This is Odessa described from the perspective of a girl arriving here on holidays, and later of an adult women from the neighbouring Moldova, and the description of the city through the eyes of an experienced traveller and intellectual. It should be emphasized that the aim of this analysis will not be the usage of traditional comparative literature, but rather the combination of two images of the "other" space and its inhabitants.