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The 1990s violence in the Former Yugoslavia, the worst in Europe since World War II, triggered the conversion of multi-ethnic, multi-religious, and cosmopolitan areas of idiosyncratic and independent socialism into regions of xenophobic nationalism, wars, and, afterwards, Western-style democracy and capitalism. Unified by their artistic response to these cataclysmic changes, post-Yugoslav literary works and films have much to offer the wider world. Crnkovic reveals select post-Yugoslav literary and cinema works as groundbreaking exploratory achievements of global relevance. She presents post-Yugoslav literature and film as art that makes us aware of previously unconsidered things that bring us wars, and those that constitute part of the tapestry of peace. She foregrounds the radical potential of art to change and enrich the global landscapes of concepts, sensitivities, and politics. As such her book is important not only for those interested in this region, but also for all those wanting to discover and engage with world literature and cinema, and willing to encounter the potential of great new art to illuminate and challenge the world we live in.
List of contents
Acknowledgments
Pronunciation Guide
Introduction
Post-Yugoslav Literature and Film, and a Different Kind of Knowledge
Chapter 1 Foundations I
While Falling Asleep: A Trace of the Moment in Yugoslavia
Chapter 2
Play and the Language of Community Against Rumor and the Guns: Alenka Mirkovic's 91.6 MHz
Chapter 3
Reclaiming Charisma, Resetting the Senses: Vladimir Arsenijevic's In the Hold
Chapter 4
The Ethics of Listening and the Grounding of a Child: Milcho Manchevski's Before the Rain
Chapter 5 Foundations II
Eternal Realms and Individual Victims in Ivo Andric's Ex Ponto and Unrest
Chapter 6
"The Truthful Road to Me": Short Takes on Six Bosnian Films
Chapter 7
Under the Star of Orwell: Jurica Pavicic's Plaster Sheep and Ante Tomic's Nothing Should Surprise Us
Chapter 8
The Museum Spills Out on the Square, the Past's Challenge to the Present: The Films of Vinko Bresan
Chapter 9
I am You and You are Me: on Liberating Anti-Nationalism
Chapter 10
Pleasant Distractions: The Danger of Close-ups and Maja Weiss's The Border Guard
Chapter 11 Foundations III
Success vs. Logic: Miroslav Krleza's On the Edge of Reason
Chapter 12
Anarchists Today: The Lazarus Project by Aleksandar Hemon
Bibliography
Index
About the author
Gordana P. Crnkovic is Professor of Slavic and of Comparative Literature, Cinema and Media at the University of Washington, Seattle, USA. Her writings include
Imagined Dialogues: Eastern European Literature in Conversation with American and English Literature (2000), over thirty articles on literature and film, as well as texts from the experimental video Zagreb Everywhere.
