Rethinking the Past: Victoria Four-Thirty and the East/West Line
Rethinking the Past: Victoria Four-Thirty and the East/West Line

Summary/Abstract: The region of the Balkans has for centuries inspired a number of travelers, writers, artists and researchers, which is why interest in this part of Europe and its relations towards the rest of it has increased over the years. The increasing number of academic articles and studies shows the importance of thorough and meticulous research of intercultural contacts, as well as of the way these cultural issues are discussed in literary works. The Balkans have been exploited in numerous novels and stories; many imaginary kingdoms have been “situated” in the region for the sake of a mysterious, thrilling setting, and a number of authors who had little or no personal contact with the region and its people used mainly set conventions, convictions and prejudices for their literary purposes. Cecil Roberts’ Victoria Four-Thirty (1937) shows the characteristics of the “Orient Express” genre novel and it deals with the issue of the West vs. East “dividing” line. The aim of this paper is to analyze the novel within the framework of cultural studies since it features , though in a rather subtle way, the issue of East/West “border-line” and stereotypes, presented mostly from the British perspective of the 1930s.

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