Феномен границы в биографии и творчестве Альмы Максимилианы Карлин / The phenomenon of border in biography and works of Alma Maximiliane Karlin.

The purpose of the article is to study the phenomenon of border in works of Alma Maximiliane Karlin (1889–1950), a German-speaking writer with a hybrid national identity. She was born in Austria-Hungary in a family with Slovenian roots, and later became a citizen of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and then Yugoslavia. The study material are the travelogues “The Odyssey of a Lonely Woman” and “The Spell of the South Seas”, created in 1930s, and other autobiographical works of the writer: “Alone: My childhood and Youth” (published in 2010 in Slovenian, in 2018 a shortened version was published in German) and “My Lost Poplars: Memories of the Second World War” (published in 2007 in Slovene). In her writings, Karlin often speaks about the issue of borders (primarily between states, nations, and civilizations). This fact is due to Karlin’s biographical experience related to her personal choice – she went on a world tour, which was reflected in her work, where important place is occupied by travelogues and fictions, which action takes place in exotic countries. Historical changes also made the writer think about the problems of the nation and its borders. In the texts of Karlin the theme of national and racial identity often arises. The writer herself reflects on her national identity and writes that she has no homeland. One can speak about the mobility of boundaries at the reception level of Karlin’s works. What is the national literature Karlin does belong to? Karlin’s nomadism manifested itself both in the biography and in her works, the phenomenon of women’s travel correlates with the trespassing. The work of the traveling writer is transnational in nature, which makes it possible to problematize the concept of national literature and its borders.