Europe–Running on Rails?: The Orient Express as BorderCrossing Myth and Theatrical Experiment

• Dorothea Volz ^[1]
  1. [1] Johannes Gutenberg University
• Localización: De fronteres i arts escèniques / coord. por Núria Santamaria, Francesc Foguet i Boreu, 2015, ISBN 978-84-943779-0-7, págs. 387-395
• Idioma: inglés
• Enlaces
  • Texto Completo Libro
• Resumen

  • This paper will contribute to the question of the production of a «European identity», analysing the famous Orient Express as a border-crossing myth and its productive potential for contemporary theatre productions. At the end of the 19th century, when nation states rose and consolidated in Europe, the Orient Express crossed the national borders and connected the East and the West.“East” and “West”, “Orient” and “Occident” — these terms seem to describe very general extremes — or, rather, reinforce the establishment of certain images. Edward Said noticed in his book Orientalism (1978) that the Orient has helped to define Europe as animage of the Other. Following the historical circumstances of the Orient Express, this article looks closer at the passengers’ reports and descriptions of the maiden trip in 1883. The idea of this unique mode of transport achieved far-reaching attention and became a famous motivein popular culture. As a place not only for transit, but also for the negotiation and trespassing of borders, the myth is still alive and even a productive concept for transnational and intercultural theatre, which will be presented at the example of Orient Express, a European Theatrefestival on rails from 2009