From Post-Yugoslavia to the Female Continent: A Feminist Reading of Post-Yugoslav Literature

281 Pages·2020·2.337 MB·English

by  Tijana Matijevic

Tijana Matijević
From Post-Yugoslavia to the Female Continent
Lettre
Tijana Matijević (PhD), is independent researcher currently teaching post-Yu-
goslav literature, culture, and languages at the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena
and the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg. Her research focuses on
the feminist writing and the continuities between the Yugoslav and post-Yugoslav
literatures.
Tijana Matijević
From Post-Yugoslavia to the Female Continent
A Feminist Reading of Post-Yugoslav Literature
With minor changes, this book represents the text of my dissertation, written and
defended at the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, under the guid-
ance of Prof Angela Richter to whom I owe gratitude for her encouragement, sup-
port and advice. I thank Prof Ana Dević who acted as the second reviewer of my
doctoral thesis for her ideas and amity. My thanks also go out to: Prof Gabriela
Lehmann-Carli, member of my defence committee; Dušan Hajduk-Veljković and
Eva Kowollik from the Department of Slavonic Studies, and their families; John
K. Cox for reading and revising the manuscript; Srđan Đurović, Divna Soleil, Sta-
nislava Barać and Ana Fazekaš for reading the text, and supporting me along the
way, together with Slaviša Raković, Branka Banja Đoković, Gagi, Marie and Jecavci;
Irena Javorski for the critical bibliographical assistance; Jessica Ammer for her help,
knowledge and friendship; my mom and sister for their care and faith.
Tati, nani, Mikiju.

Gefördert durch den Deutschen Akademikerinnen Bund e.V.

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Contents
I Introduction:OnPost-YugoslaviaandtheFemaleContinent........................ 7
I1. Post-YugoslavLiterature:AUtopiaandaField........................................15
I2. AFeministFramingofthepost-YugoslavLiteraryField..............................23
I3. Summary ..........................................................................32
II Women’sWritingandCriticalNostalgia:OnIldikoLovas’Fiction...................35
II1. BordersofTimeandSpaceandAuthorship:“ViadelCorsoI”..........................41
II2. OnRealandFictionalIdentities:“Stvarnikonobar”................................... 47
II3. TotalitarianismandMisogyny:“Zlatnapriča”.........................................56
III Post-YugoslavÉcritureFéminine...................................................65
III1. TanjaStuparTrifunović’sSatoviumajčinojsobi:‘WritingtheBody’asaSignpost ..... 73
III1.1. ToMeetthe(M)other......................................................... 75
III1.2. FemaleDifferenceandWriting...............................................80
III2. TeaTulić’sKosaposvuda:HowtoWritetheDeathofMother..........................85
III2.1. FemaleCamaraderievs.RealWorld..........................................86
III2.2.BacktoChora?OnMotherandWriting........................................92
III3. IvanaBodrožić’sHotelZagorje:TheDeathoftheFatherandtheComingofAgeas
theWarNovel ...................................................................... 97
III3.1. TobeaRefugee:InternalizationandReproductionofEnmity .................99
III3.2.LuresandFearsofComingofAge........................................... 105
III3.3.AnAbsentWitnesstotheFather’sDeath......................................110
IV TheOtherWriting:AtonementandFemaleAuthorshipinSnežanaAndrejević’s
andLukaBekavac’sFiction........................................................117
IV1. SnežanaAndrejević’sŽivotujenajteže:A‘Two-faced’Narrator .......................119
IV1.1. OntheFrontLine:Trans,Trance ............................................ 129
IV2. LukaBekavac’sDrenjeandViljevo:BeyondSeveredEndsofSpaceandTime......... 134
IV3. TheMediumistheMessage:FemaleVoicesandSound.............................. 143
V WhattoDoWiththePast?FeministLiteraryHistoriographiesI:
OljaSavičevićIvančević’sAdio,kauboju ...........................................151
V1. OntheReal,FictionalandFemaleCowboys......................................... 153
V2. StagingtheWestern.WhythePastDoesNotFitthePresent?....................... 156
V3. SaintFjokoFestival:DifferenceandtheCarnevalizationofGender.................. 162
V4. TheBody/HouseTrope:EssentializationandEmancipation.......................... 168
V5. MarijaČarija’sWestern:RighteousnessandTragicHeroin............................175
V6. Migrant,Worker,Author:AnOpenEndastheBeginning............................. 180
VI WhattoDoWiththePast?FeministLiteraryHistoriographiesII:
SlobodanTišma’sBernardijevasoba............................................... 189
VI1. ObjectsofthePast,PastoftheObjects:PastasBelonging(s) ...................... 193
VI2. ParentalHome:On(Im)possibleIdentifications.....................................200
VI3. PolandPolitika:WomeninPairsandthePoliticsofLiterature......................207
VI4. ColonizingaUtopia:Jouissance,DifferenceandAuthorship.........................223
VI5. Neo-avant-gardeandFeministFoundationsofpost-YugoslavLiterature.............229
VI5.1. Appendix: Situationist International and the Esoteric Neo-avant-garde in
Bernardijevasoba...........................................................245
VII Conclusions.InheritedPossibility,Or:ChoosingTheOptimalVariant............... 251
Bibliography............................................................................257
I Introduction: On Post-Yugoslavia and the Female
Continent
Our subject is what John Lampe called a
change that was felt in the atmosphere
from the time when the word ‘Yugoslav’
entered the language and came into ev-
erydayuse.
(DubravkaStojanović)1

ByWOMENImeannotonlythebiocultural
entitiesthusrepresented,astheempirical
subjectsofsociopoliticalrealities,butalso
adiscursivefield:feministtheory.
(RosiBraidotti)2
Thetitleofthisbookreferstotheworksoffictionproducedin‘today’sYugoslavia’,
as the closest to an unambiguous definition of the cultural (and political) space
existingasthesuccessorofhistoricalYugoslavia(s).Oneclearlyneedsalotofquo-
tationmarksandbracketsinordertotalkaboutandstudythisspace:theycom-
municatethediscrepancybetweenthelivedexperienceofasingleculturalfield,and
atthesametimeitsfragmentationontheleveloftheadministrativepoliticalen-
tities,post-Yugoslavnation-states.Andwhilefromthepresentdayperspectivean
experimentalqualifier‘today’sYugoslavia’seemsquitefitting,backintheperiod
thisresearchwasinitiated,anyattributetryingtocircumscribethespaceinques-
tionwasseenaseitherinadequateorimprecise,sinceitsimplycouldnotencircle
the complexity of the space which simultaneously still existed and did not exist
anymore.However,oneofthemainconclusionsofthisresearchispreciselythat
complexityofthisspacedoesnotmeanthatitresiststheorization;onthecontrary,
itmotivatesit,togetherwithopeningthewholenewterminologicalandconceptual
fieldinthelasttwodecades.
1 Stojanović2015.
2 Braidotti1997:61.
8 FromPost-YugoslaviatotheFemaleContinent
AfterYugoslaviahaddissolved,theterm‘post-Yugoslav’wasseekinglegitimiza-
tion,asthephrasewhichwouldexpressexactlythecomplexityoftheendanda
continuation in a single word, as it was ironically suggested most probably the
firsttimethetermwasused–atleastinsidetheliterarycontext–inDubravka
Ugrešić’sbookofessaysTheCultureofLies(1995):“‘Idon’tknowwhoIamanymore’
[…].‘Iamapost-Yugoslav,aGypsy.’”(Ugrešić1998:7).3Nevertheless,thetermhad
beenalsoreinforcedinthetheoreticaldiscourse,amongotherproposals,asanal-
ogoustotheprocessdiscussedwithinpost-colonialstudies:‘post’–inBhabhian
phrasing–denotesa“‘liminal’time[…]meaningnot‘after’,butrather‘thetime
never completely‘beyond’”(Rakočević 2011: 209).4 Hence,though disputable,the
termhadactuallystartedeffortlesslycirculatingtodefineliteraryworksproduced
inthespacesofformerYugoslavia,becomingatthesametimeaneffectivepoliti-
calmarkerofanti-nationalist,arguablyevenpro-integrationist,butgenerallyanti-
conservativeculturalproductsandconcepts.5 Thetitleofthispaperwasdecided
alongtheselinestoo,andthoughalreadysomealarmingsignalsaboutitsredun-
dancyappeared–theissueItouchuponinthefollowingsection–Idecidedto
keepthequalifier‘post-Yugoslav’andapplyitasahistoricalterm,onethatmarks
aperiodofYugoslavhistoriesandcultures,thatis,preciselytheoneofdissolving
Yugoslaviaandwhatemergesonitsruins,orasitseffect.
Thisneedorevenanecessitytooperatewithinasingleculturalspacehasto
dowiththeviolentbreakupofthecountryofYugoslaviaandthesubsequentcon-
tinuousdiscourseofitsdelegitimization.Post-Yugoslavnation-statesconstituted
byethnonationalidentityutilizedcultureasamaininstrumentofethnonational
homogenization,distinctionandeventualsenseofsuperiority.6RastkoMočnikde-
scribes‘nationalculture’asa“secretinbornknowledgepossessedexclusivelybythe
membersofthecommunity”(Močnik2016:180),emphasizingthe“sadroleplayed
bythewritersandtheirassociationsinthedissolutionofYugoslaviaandthewars
thatfollowedit”(ibid.).Thispaperis,therefore,devotedtoansweringthequestions
whycertainbodyofworksshouldbereadinsidethisentirediscursiveandhistor-
ical dynamics,at the same time drawing some conclusions on how the writings
3 FirstpublishedinDutchin1995asDecultuurvanleugens(Amsterdam:Nijgh&vanDitmar).In
1996itwaspublishedinCroatian(Zagreb:Arkzin)andin1998inEnglish(seeBibliography).
4 Unlessotherwiseindicated,thetranslationstoEnglisharemine.
5 Inmy2016article“National,Post-national,Transnational.Ispost-YugoslavLiteratureanAr-
guableorPromisingFieldofStudy?”Idealtindetailwiththemeaningandcirculationofthe
term‘post-Yugoslav’.
6 Numerousstudieshavebeenwrittenonthetopic,stilloneofthemostprominentauthors
ofthediscourseontheinteractionamongnationalismandcultureistheanthropologistand
publisherIvanČolović.Someofhisstudiesinclude:Bordelratnika.Folklor,politikairat(1993),
Politikasimbola.Oglediopolitičkojantropologiji(1997;Eng.ThePoliticsofSymbolinSerbia,2002),
Balkan–terorkulture.Oglediopolitičkojantropologiji,2(2008;Eng.TheBalkans:TheTerrorof
Culture,2011),Zanjimasmoišlipevajući.Junacidevedesetih(2011).
1 Introduction:OnPost-YugoslaviaandtheFemaleContinent 9
ofthecontemporaryauthorsof‘today’sYugoslavia’helpunderstandanddefinethe
verycontexttheywritein.Thesetwoaspectsdefinethesubjectmatterofthisstudy:
post-Yugoslavliterature.
Thetwoapparentlyspatialentitiesfromthetitle–Post-Yugoslaviaandafe-
malecontinent–havebeenchosenasthetwoconceptsindicatingapost-Yugoslav
literarytrajectory:thesetwoutopianendssignifythepost-Yugoslavliteratureas
afeministdiscourse.‘Post-Yugoslavia’isthename(oroneofthepossiblenames)
ofthe‘today’sYugoslavia’,thatdoesn’texistasanadministrativeterritory,butit
‘happens’,itispresentasaculturalanddiscursivereality.Recentappearanceofthe
nounsPost-Yugoslaviaandpost-Yugoslavismalsosupportthis.7 Yet,whilethe‘post-
Yugoslav’hasbeenacontestedtermandPost-Yugoslaviabarelyexists,femalecon-
tinentisaphrasethatisincirculation.Inthelocalcontext,feministliteraryschol-
ars and authors extensively use this expression to refer to the women’s writing,
revisitingthe‘femalecontinent’fromtheVojvodinianandYugoslavauthorJudita
Šalgo’s(1941–1996)posthumouslypublishednovelPutuBirobidžan(JourneytoBiro-
bidzhan,1997).Afemalecontinentisautopianplacetheprotagonistsofthisnovel
tryordesiretoreach,foritrepresentsahaven,analternativesocietalstructure
and,thereforealsoapossibilityofdifferenthistory.Autopianfemalecontinentin
thisresearchisthefigureoffemaleauthorship,denotingbotha‘remote’andare-
silientstatusofwomen’swritinginthepost-Yugoslavspace,markingthestriking
progressionoffemaleandfeministwritinginthelast20years.
Thepositionofwomenisrefractedinsidetheliteraryfieldas–aboveall–the
questionoffemaleauthorship,anessentialsubjectofthefeministliterarycriti-
cism,thatis,gynocriticismasthedisciplinefocusingonthefemaleliterarytradi-
tions,womenauthors,relationshipbetweenthegender,writingandcanon.This
alreadyclassicalfeministanalysisofliteraturehasbeenappliedtoshowthatto-
getherwiththeconstitutiverolefeministandwomen’swritinghaveforthepost-
Yugoslavliterature,thestruggleofwomenauthorstoovercomethemasculinist,
patriarchalandoftenalsomisogynistculturalsettingiscontinuous.Thefeminist
readingasastrategyoftheanalysisisemployedpreciselytoshowthat“unlessthe
criticalorhistoricalpointofviewisfeminist,thereisatendencytounderrepresent
thecontributionofwomenwriters”(Tyson2006:84).Yet,whethertheemphasis
is put on a sociological perspective of the literary production,or on the artistic
practicesthemselves,thewomen’swritingasthepracticeofwritingisoutsidethe
masculinistandpatriarchaleconomyofdiscourse,showingthatan“abstractsub-
jectthatisallegedlyapriorigiventhefreedomofspeech[…]doesnotexistpast
sexualscriptanditspowerasymmetry”(ČaleFeldmanandTomljenović2012:25).
7 Inthetitleofthe2016volume:FacingthePresent:TransitioninPost-Yugoslavia:TheArtists’View
(editedbyRenateHansen-Kokoruš),andastheconceptanalogoustoYugoslavisminhistorian
DraganMarkovina’s2018bookJugoslavijauHrvatskoj:(1918.–2018.):odeuforijedotabua.