On mythical identities of mythical countries A conversation with Miljenko Jergović, a Balkan writer. Interviewer: Aleksandra Wojtaszek ALEKSANDRA WOJTASZEK : We are meeting thanks to the recent publishing of a collection of your essays by the Kraków- based International Cultural Centre tilted Muscat, lemon and turmeric. It seems that a common denominator for these essays is Central Europe, which binds the descrip- tions of cities and biographies in your texts together. Do you believe that a Central European identity exists? If yes, what are its features? MILJENKO JERGOVIĆ: I believe that we could talk about it in an unor- thodox fashion. What is common to all of the peoples living in Central Eu- rope is primarily all the traumas of the 20th century, such as the concentra- tion camps. We are also connected by historical experiences such as being a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, or the bloc of socialist countries after the Second World War. In one sense, we lived our lives in a border region. From the perspective of the Balkans, it is tru- ly fascinating that Poland hadn’t existed for over a hundred years and then was physically moved hundreds of kilome- tres westwards. In other words, a great amount of people had to leave their local homelands and move elsewhere, which is both tragic and fascinating from a lit- erary point of view. In the essay titled “A Galician Myth”, you write that the Polish writer Andrzej Stasiuk is a writer from your world. Yes. Tis is possible because Galicia is a mythical land. Although the Gali- cian identity is not connected to any country or nation, it can be clearer and stronger than many national identities. I identify with this and it fascinates me as my identity also is not directly linked to a specifc nationality or an existing or non-existent country. We can imagine Central Europe as a community made up of mythical countries and mythical identities. Te Habsburg monarchy re- ally existed, but its myth was stronger than its reality.