TIME IN THE NOVELS OF MILOS CRNJANSKI - Nottingham eTheses

CHAPTER THREE
disturbed.
It is expected that in a diary events are
presented in a linear progression. but in this diary the
events do not develop progressively.
The action of the
diary is not the central interest of the diarist. The
episodes which he relates provide the context for the
diary's confessional tone as the diarist attempts to
come to terms with his present existence.
The second
unusual factor of this diary is in the title which
announces that it is "about" someone. rather than "of"
someone.
The impression of the diarist's disturbed
consciousness is reinforced by the episode involving
'the- ~il".r.
since it is introduced and concluded as if
the events of a dream during his stay in hospital.
At the be~1nn1n~
of the novel there 1. one
reference to indicate when the diary is written:
I volim svoj !ivot ~arju. koju sam osetio
lane. kad sam se vra6ao iz onih blatnih.
mladih. polja~kih §uma. gde su onoliki
ostali poderani i krvavi. sa razlupanim
~elom. I pun uspomena. ja ih pi§em
ponosno. kao Kazanova za one. koji su
~orel1 u po!aru !1vota. 1 koj1 su sasv1m
razo~arani (6).
And I love my life with the enchantment
which I felt last year, when I was
returning from the muddy. young. Polish
forests. where so many have remained
ragged and bloody. with broken heads.
And full of memories. I am writing them
prOUdly, like Casanova for those who
burnt in the fire of life. and who are
completely disillusioned.
The diarist is writing his memories for those who were
destroyed by the war.
There are those who died on the
battlefield. and those. like himself. who have come home
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