A Sense of "Unhomeliness" in Anton Chekhov’s Kashtankaʹʹs Vacillation between Two Worlds

Oscillation between two geographical places, the native or ancestral land and a foreign land, causes the feeling of having been displaced for that person. The concept of "home" plays a crucial function in everyoneʹs lives and also gives a sense of oneʹs place in the world. Therefore, “Unhomeliness” emerges when one lives in a place which is not his/her real home. This concept is investigated by Homi K. Bhabha and other theorists of post colonialism as “unhomeliness”. In Anton Chekhov’s Kashtanka, a short story written in 1887, Kashtanka as the protagonist is an “unhomed” dog, who has been lost and forced to live in an estranger’s house. This story can be read as the manifestation of the concept of "unhomeliness" and lack of intimacy and warmth in the new place despite of its good life conditions. The protagonist’s imaginations and dreams of her homeland provoke a sense of insecurity and not belonging to the new land. In this research, it is tried to explain the process of identity-making in Chekhov’s Kashtanka through Bhabha’s theories of mimicry, hybridity, and “third space”.