Supplement Contemporary Croatian Literature, pp. 15 - 34 - Zarez

II/40, 12. listopada,,,. 17re novels in the first place, unencumberedby the pejorative dichotomybetween "high" and "low" literature.Josip Mlakiæ, and his novelWhen The Fog Lifts (2000), hold aspecial place in this generation ofwriters. Mlakiæ does not use genremodels of war novel, but the (quasi)autobiographicalnarration inretrospective time that blurs theboundary between the events ofwar and the reflection about them.Although Daša Drndiæ's fictionCanzone di guerra cannot be thematicallycompared with Mlakiæ(since she talks about exile, notwar), it is close to Mlakiæ’s enunciationtechniques. On the crossroadsbetween fiction, autobiographyand essay, Drndiæ's writingposes questions about the questfor identity and the shaping ofidentity through biography. She alsoexplores social and (inter)nationalidentity, although she puts thequest for "intellectual identity"above anything else. In her opinion,this can only be achievedthrough writing.By the end of the nineties, autobiographyin its "pure form" had leftthe historical stage and continuedto flourish in the realm it traditionally"owned": memories, intimacy,childhood. This is literaryenvironment in which one findsJulijana Matanoviæ's fiction Why ILied To You (1998), as well as thememoirs of youth and childhoodthat were published by eminentgenre writers from the eighties: PavaoPavlièiæ and Goran Tribuson(Early Days, 1998). Autobiographyhas in the meantime turned intoan independent and respected genre,to the degree where some publisherschose it as their specialty.For example, after Irena Vrkljanand Ivan Lovrenoviæ, the publishinghouse Durieux also publishedvaluable memories of Eva Grliæand Sonja Wild Biæaniæ.What about the rest?My line of argument, focusingon Croatian literature in the nineties,primarily followed the ways inwhich the war fiction was formed,from its beginning in the confessionaldiscourse of witnesses untilthe ultimate appearance of fictionalstructures. I chose the fictional/factualangle to emphasize thegrowing significance of autobiographicalfiction during the nineties,which automatically excluded manywriters who are theoretically divorcedfrom it, like Damir Miloš,Borivoj Radakoviæ, Zoran Feriæ,Viktor Ivanèiæ, Ðermano Senjanoviæetc. It is more likely that theseauthors are heirs to the aestheticstandards of the literary magazine"Quorum" that was very influentialin the eighties, and the Europeanpostmodernist literary repertoire.We are faced with even moredifficult questions when we considerthe work of Croatian dissidentwriters, like Slavenka Drakuliæ andDubravka Ugrešiæ (in the realm offiction) and Slobodan Šnajder(where drama is concerned). Croatianreaders are still unfamiliar withtheir texts. Here the saying “thelack is measured by what suffices”applies; only after we finally getthe chance to read them in Croatian(instead of looking for themin the English bookstore “Algoritam”),will we be able to determinehow our literature would look ifonly these authors were fully integratedin it, without being stigmatizedby the media. In the absenceof a better past, we can onlyguess.roatian drama in thenineties never presented aunited front; there wereonly individual playwrights whoused Croatian language for verydifferent aesthetic and politicalpurposes. Some of them rose toprominence in the eighties, forinstance Slobodan Šnajder, andsome of them are literary newcomers,like Dubravko Mihanoviæ.It is however interestingto see that Šnajder's typical writingstyle in the communist periodincluded "angry" metahistoricalspectacles, grand scale"operas" with obvious Brechtianundertones, while some of hisworks from Tuðman's period,i.e. period of Šnajder's involuntaryexile from the Croatianstage, took on a more elegiac,intimate tone, focusing on femalecharacters or woman's personaltrauma of war rape (I referto the The Bride of the Wind andThe Slough). We could say thatŠnajder's oeuvre in the '90s leansslightly towards the female, ifnot feminist perspective, evenwhen he dissects Mafia mentalityor when he gloatingly, uncriticallycelebrates Wagner's megalomaniacmusic (as in the play Atthe White Swan). In works ofother acclaimed dramatists, namelyIvo Brešan and Mate Matišiæ,the codes of heroic/masculinerepresentation undergomerciless scrutiny, but the alternativesare either stoicism (Brešan)or religious insight (Matišiæ).That said, Mate Matišiæpossesses the musicality of language,ethical integrity and dramaticskill without compare incontemporary Croatian literature;he stands in a class by himself.Sophisticated psychologicalissues are at the center of theaward-winning play White by ayoung author Dubravko Mihanoviæ,where two introvertedand kind house painters lovinglyshare their fears, illnesses anddreams. Another young playwright,Asja Srnec, has conceivedan excellent closet dramaThe Touch, probably her best yetin the growing number of herdramas on family violence.Destructive patterns of familybehavior (including subjects ofchild abuse, incest, pedophiliaand drug abuse) come into focusin plays of Ivan Vidiæ and LukasNola, but both authors stillfavor the atmosphere of cartoonishgrotesque, typicallyindicative of baby steps in anyfiction writing. Both of themalso tend to repeat their thematicand stylistic features. The truemature satirical wit comes to thefore in the works of BorisSenker, a politically biting andsharp social observer in the postsocialist,as well as the socialistera (with his Cabaret &TD, conceivedas a stage fight ofCroatian literary giants thatinvites audience participation,Senker managed to preserve thecentury-old cabaret tradition ofZagreb).I think that considering theshort form of this review I canbe excused from listing the variousnationalistic and politicallyfawning plays of the '90s. Norwill I mention the performancemanuscripts (although some ofthem were created by literarygifted theatre crews, dramaturges,directors and actors),because I consider them a part oftheater, not drama, classification.The reason why I left outthe works of Miro Gavran, anextremly productive writer ofsentimental and shallow melodramaticplays, is not because Iam "above" emotion, but becauseI believe that sentimental clichéshave nothing in common withemotionality or good writing. Adifferent set of stock-scenes andstock-characters, this time in thevulgar grotesque vein, is whatcharacterizes the theater work ofRobert Perišiæ and Filip Šovagoviæ.To me, the most interestingDangerous Verses,Useless FlagsThe youngest, mostintriguing generation ofplaywrights does notexperiment too muchwith form, but introducesnew subjects and newcritical sensibilityNataša Govediæand innovative playwright of thedecade turned out to be IvanaSajko, with plays like Orange inthe Clouds or 4 Dry Feet. Sajko iscapable of writing within theboundaries of realistic motivation(my personal favorite is hermodernist drama The PaintedHome), but her preference lieswith postmodern fantasticalplays and lyrical drama of theabsurd. In Orange in the Clouds,female character reaches purgatoryafter committing suicidebecause she has spent manyyears believing that her deadPlaywrights areaware that the warin Croatia politicallymay have ended,but the cultural andinstitutional warstill rageslover was calling her from theOther Side, while in fact herindifferent partner has completelyforgotten her. God in theplay is an impatient provincialDJ who plays our "emotionaltapes", so Sajko clearly possessesthe gift of deep sarcasm. In 4Dry Feet she again creates anotherworldly situation, but nowshe paints apocalyptic watercolorof global Flood. The hardshipof survival as a constant subjectof her plays is certainly a referenceto current Croatian reality(and perhaps to her own situationof a nationally and internationallyaward-winning authorwho is still unemployed and hasno material security whatsoever).Not to forget: despite theawards, Sajko's plays have neverbeen performed in Croatianinstitutional theatre. Her criticismof male and oppressiveworld culminates with 4 DryFeet, where water, traditionallyconsidered as a "female element"and a symbol of physical andmetaphysical renewal, slowlytakes over the entire reality, butonly to bring death to singingvoices and floating bodies of theonly two remaining men. Herirony is lacerating. Sajko's styleof lyrical incantation makes herplays much closer to poetry thanfiction and it reminds us ofauthors like T.S. Eliot or SamuelBeckett.Generally, we might concludewith observation that the youngest,most intriguing generationof playwrights does not experimenttoo much with form, butintroduces new subjects and newcritical sensibility. They areaware that the war in Croatiapolitically may have ended, butthe cultural and institutional warstill rages. Although they avoidbeing politically overt, institutionaltheatre finds them tooprovocative to stage. As always,the notion of having professionalstandards is seen as a muchworse threat in Croatia thanhaving political ones.Nataša Govediæ