Ambivalent Borders In David Greig’s Europe (1994)

Zusammenfassung

This paper examines the ways in which David Greig’s Europe (1994) illustrates the idea of ambivalent borders in the context of Post-Wall Europe under the intensification of globalization processes and the massive transformation of European identities these rapid changes brought about. My contention is that ambivalence is not only the sense these developments have left society with, but also that it is identified as the ethos of the media-saturated era. Hence, Europe’s articulation of borders is tinged with ambivalence.The present paper explores the notions of identity and the formal strategies unfolded in the play in order to unveil this quality. Conveying from the outset that the very ideas of Europe and borders are haunted by uncertainty, it is claimed that Europe mirrors contemporary society’s ambivalence through the representation of borderland identities and borderland formal strategies possibly enabling ethico-political resonances.