American Dream or American Experience: Being a Foreigner in Praxis and in Literary Theory

The paper addresses the topic of emigration to the US based on my own personal experience. It juxtaposes the notion of “American dream” to that of “American experience” and argues that curiosity was the major motivation of my decision to cross the Atlantic as a refugee. The visit turned into a permanent stay after I was able to join – as an instructor in Slavic studies – the local “experience industry”, turning into a broker of the East European experience for American youth