The Political Novel in the South Slavic Intercultural Context investigates the problem of the genre of the most elusive literary genre: the political novel, and the presence of "political" in novels of South Slavic literature, primarily in the intercultural South Slavic social context, as well as in the context of contemporary history of Southeast and Central Europe. This genre in the South Slavic inter-literary context has not yet been scientifically and systematically studied and presented, although there are critical and scientific reviews that indicate its presence in literary production. The best novels from the canonical South Slavic authors Miroslav Krleza, Mihailo Lalic, Oskar Davico, Miodrag Bulatovic, Ivo Andric, Mesa Selimovic, Borislav Pekic, Mirko Kovac, Danilo Kis, and others included in this book thematize the political concepts of the twentieth century, so in the broadest sense they can be considered within the genre of political novel, including its subgenre variants. The political novel in South Slavic literatures (in the intercultural context) in general is a specific genre of the novel in relation to the political novel written in the West, an inter-literary phenomenon that was a critique of the Titoist regime and a literary response to the poetics and politics of social realism. It is conditioned by specific historical-political and social movements during the XX century. The narrative of the political novel is a poetic resistance to ideological consciousness and a dogmatic view of reality.
Ethem Mandic is professor and member of the Faculty for Montenegrin Language and Literature in Cetinje.
Introduction 1. Contradictions of the Political Novel 2. Svadba: A Borderline Political Novel (Between Social Realism and Modernism) 3. Oscar Davico (Pesma): The Psychological Political Novel and the Entry of the Communist and Fascist Ideology in the Novel 4. Ivo Andric (Prokleta Avlija): The Politics of Identity and Totalitarian Regimes in the Political Novel 5. Polyvalent Picture of the Genre of the Political Novel and Literature in the Seventies 6. Danilo Kis (Grobnica Za Borisa Davidovica): The Documentary Political Novel 7. The Political Novel Between Documentary and Psychology in Kako Upokojiti Vampira (How to Rest the Vampire) (1977) Borislav Pekic Conclusion Bibliography Index About The Author
Ethem Mandic's comprehensive theoretical and analytical-synthetic discussion The Political Novel in the South Slavic Intercultural Context is a valuable contribution both to the theory of the political novel-especially to the determination of its dominant genre determinants-and to the description and interpretations of canonical texts of the genre from South Slavic literatures. It also affirms the intercultural context and inter-literary dialogue within the specific Yugoslavian inter-literary community in the period from the 1930s to the 1970s by not only by interpreting and searching the material, but also by actively including literary and academic criticism from multiple cultural backgrounds and perspectives. Thus, this intercultural research is methodologically designed, self-aware, and successful. -- Zvoko Kovac, University of Zagreb
