Pregledni rad
ERIK VIO, SURGEON FROM RIJEKA AT HISTORY’S CROSSROAD
Marinko Lazzarich
; Učiteljski fakultet, Sveučilište u Rijeci, Rijeka, Hrvatska
Sažetak
The fact that many famous denizens of Rijeka belong to different nationalities confirms this
city’s historic multicultural image. The life story of Erik Vio (1910-1996), renowned surgeon
of international reputation, reflects the fate of many displaced residents of Rijeka who left
to live in exile. After graduating in Rome, Vio worked as a medical doctor in Hong Kong
for almost three decades. The question is weather a surgeon from Rijeka chose to live in
Hong Kong because it reminded him of his hometown? The author finds the root of this
thesis in Vio’s novel The Pathways of Freedom (˝Irwege der Freiheit˝, Köln 1978), a particular
medical-philosophic diagnosis of the contemporary civilization’s spiritual state. Rare
fragments dedicated to Rijeka confirm Vio’s actual detachment; faced with his own identity,
but also with the others’ with whom he shared his living space, a surgeon from Rijeka became
a true citizen of the world and at the same time a stateless person with no roots of his own.
Through the projection of Hong Kong one can detect the novel’s identification backbone:
writer’s provocation of the ideological perspective on socio-cultural relations. By engaging in
the interpretation of Vio’s The Pathways of Freedom the author seeks to dissect a sociological
dimension of descriptions of dual identities in border space. This leads to the issue of understanding
and tolerance toward the others.
Ključne riječi
the literature of the border; history; immigration topics; repressed identity; Erik Vio
Hrčak ID:
172824
URI
Datum izdavanja:
25.8.2016.
Posjeta: 1.410 *