(Pseudo)mystification in M. Pavic’s Prose

Abstract

Milorad Pavić came to fame thanks to the novel Dictionary of the Khazars (1984), a pseudo-historical document which combines historical events in the Khazar Khaganate of the 8th and 9th centuries with fantastic elements. In the preface to the novel, the narrator refers to the Dictionary of the Khazars written the Polish scribe Daubmannus in 1691 as the main source of information, which was allegedly already destroyed by the Inquisition in 1692. The narrator argues, however, that two copies of it (the author even quotes them in his novel) have survived. In accordance with the traditions of medieval literature, Pavić refers to chronicles, hagiographies, lexicons, chronicles, and other documents. The author quotes without distortion all data about the Khazars known to scholars. Pavić seeks to recreate the world of the Khazars and to construct an indivisible unity of quotation and mystification. Another example of a mystification novel by M. Pavić is Pozorište od hartije (2007), a kind of anthology of modern short stories from around the world, consisting of 38 stories, as well as bio-bibliographic information about the authors all invented by Pavić himself. For him, the creation of a mystification is one of the fundamental creative techniques that underlies the two novels and can be found in a number of other texts by the author. It is worth noting, however, that Pavić uses mystification precisely as one of the methods, often revealing his intention in the preface to a particular work, therefore, strictly speaking, we are talking about pseudo-mystification.