EMOCIONALNI DISKURS U „UČENOM MAČKU“ BRANKA V. RADIČEVIĆA

Abstract

Animals as characters have been present in literature from its very beginning, from ancient fables, stories about animals, through the biblical motif in the story of Adam and Eve to contemporary literary works, especially in works intended for children. Starting from the approach of animal studies as a discipline that deals with the analysis of the depiction of animals in literature, focusing on children’s literature, the anthropomorphic aspect of the analysis was singled out. Branko V. Radičević (1925–2001) sculpted figures of animals in his works intended for children. The aim of the paper is to analyze the emotional discourse in Branko V. Radičević’s animalistic prose for children. The focus will be on the work The Learned Cat (Učeni mačak), the tasks are to observe the characteristics and way of building the characters of animals, especially the cat, then the dog, and to analyze the mutual communication of literary characters. With a brilliant storytelling style, linguistic expression, with the full support of imagination, Radičević created the novel The Learned Cat. It is a truly beautiful and imaginatively spun story about a cat who, after becoming a high school graduate, experiences unusual adventures in search of a vocation. He represented animals as heroes in almost all forms of prose for children – from stories, poetry, all the way to novels. While in his poetry animals appear less, mostly as an integral part of nature and serve to better describe it, in his prose works, especially in the analyzed work The Learned Cat, animals are the main characters who go through various events or whose function is to help the main character (in human form), but also pose a threat to the main character. This novel also shows the importance of emotions in people’s lives in general, how positive ones such as neighbourly love, empathy, compassion bring them pleasure, but how it is necessary to face the negative ones, such as fear, and overcome them.