Spaces beyond the horizon? Alternative imaginative geographies between Europe and the Orient

Abstract

Post-structuralist and post-colonial discourses in contemporary human geography often make reference to the works of Joseph Conrad, albeit not infrequently in an iconized fashion. This essay reviews some grounds for feeling that these readings are missing geographies of the Orient implicit not only in Conrad’s work, but in treatments of geographies of imprisonment and deportation east of the Vistula over centuries. Attention is drawn to the work of Adam Mickiewicz and Joseph Brodsky, and to the legacy of the czarist and soviet penal systems. The essay concludes by pointing to the contribution that broader, alternative views of empire and oppression may make in adding depth to our discourse.