Thematics and Poetics of Racism in Pajtim Statovci’s Novels My Cat Yugoslavia and Crossing

This article examines two migration novels by Pajtim Statovci, My Cat Yugoslavia and Crossing, through the lens of the themes and poetics of racism. Racism studies are combined with character analysis, using James Phelan’s model as a framework. It is argued that the narrator in Crossing is unreliable, presenting a distinct poetic strategy for conveying anti-racist values compared to the reliable first-person narrator in My Cat Yugoslavia. Additionally, the theme of racism plays a central role in both novels and can be analyzed using concepts from sociological studies of racism. Statovci’s works are societal novels that take a clear anti-racist stance and engage with social discourse on racism and migration.