„Od Ognjene do Blage Marije“ u opusu Jovana Radulovića

Abstract

The paper deals with the novel Od Ognjene do Blage Marije from the point of view of Radulović’s prose as a whole, and especially in the context of his novelisic work. The thematic basis of the novel is the tragic exodus of the Serbian people from the Republic of Serbian Krajina in August 1995, during the “Storm“, Croatian Army invasion on Knin. This topic, most frequently treated by the Serbian writers who have fled Croatia, has become especially important in contemporary Serbian literature. Jovan Radulović based his novel on his previous screenwriting text intended for an unrecorded TV drama. The main characters of the novel are the members of a Serbian family who leave their homeland in a long column of refugees and flee to Serbia. The voices and life stories of these char- acters and of other protagonists and witnesses of the Serbian exodus are intertwined in a polyphonic narrative sequence. Although the novel is dominated by dramatic and tragic life situations, literary characters still have hope for a new life in some other milieu. The novel is characterized by short scenes and sentences which reflect the authentic language; at the same time, the language emphasizes tragic life situation of the refugee people.