Two Types of Events in Border Crossing Narratives of Contemporary Travelogues

Abstract

The paper analyzes border crossing in two contemporary travelogues – The Border by E. Fatland (2021) and All the Agents and Saints: Dispatches from the U.S. Borderlands by S. E. Griest (2017). Methodologically, the study relies on the framework proposed by Peter Hühn [Hühn 2011], distinguishing two types of events – the first refers to the sequential elements, changes of state, constitutive of any narration, while the second pinpoints the transformative and disruptive quality of certain changes in the story. The same actions or facts may, or may not, be interpreted as events of both types in different plots. The notion of an event thus helps the author highlight the temporal and experiential dimension of travelers’ movements across borders. Both narratives describe borders as fluid and shiftable, emphasizing their artificial and performative nature. Fatland, whose border crossings structure her itinerary, highlights the minimal geographical and yet stunning cultural distance between different “universes”. Griest is more interested in exploring the liminality experienced by the ethnic communities whose lands the national borders cut through. Of special interest is the experience of border crossing for “undesirable” travelers such as illegal migrants. What may be a type I event or non-event for “trusted” travelers (e.g. American citizens or Russian shoppers in Heihe) may easily mean a type II or even the final event (death) for the “undesirables” (e.g. Mexican immigrants). Thus, the status of border crossing as a type I or type II event depends on its unpredictability and inherent risks.

Keywords

• borders
• border crossing
• mobility
• hybrid identities
• event
• travelogues
• literary travels
• literary genres
• narrative