HAPPINESS IS A NEW IDEA IN EUROPE BY JORDAN PLEVNESH: EUROPEAN IDENTITY, CULTURAL MEMORY, INTERTEXTUALITY, AND THE ETHICS OF HAPPINESS

Abstract

This paper examines Jordan Plevnesh’s dramatic text Happiness Is a New Idea in Europe as a postmodern interrogation of European identity, cultural memory, historical trauma, and the possibility of constructing a new ethical European imaginary. The analysis combines classical literary theory with recent scholarship on European identity, cultural memory, intertextuality, Balkan studies, and subjective well-being. The theoretical framework draws upon Mikhail Bakhtin, Julia Kristeva, Jacques Derrida, Edward Said, Homi K. Bhabha, and Linda Hutcheon, while contemporary perspectives are provided by recent studies of European narratives, cultural Europeanization, intertextuality, and happiness. The study employs qualitative textual analysis, close reading, intertextual analysis, cultural-historical interpretation, and comparative theoretical analysis. Three research questions guide the investigation: how does Plevnesh construct Europe as a cultural and historical identity; how does the play employ intertextuality and historical memory to question dominant European narratives; and how does the concept of happiness function as a possible ethical alternative to Europe’s history of violence? The central hypothesis proposes that Plevnesh transforms the concept of happiness from a private emotional condition into a collective ethical and civilizational project. The analysis demonstrates that the play destabilizes the binary opposition between Europe and the Balkans and repositions the Balkans as an interpretive space from which Europe itself can be critically reconsidered. The play ultimately constructs Europe as an unfinished cultural project whose future depends upon dialogue, historical responsibility, difference, reconciliation, and human dignity