TIME IN THE NOVELS OF MILOS CRNJANSKI - Nottingham eTheses

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CHAPTER THREE
sprinz" 11).
In those pazes the diarist charts the
prozress of his memory. recountinz in separate entries
different incidents within the 1ari:er event.
When
separate entries form part of a 1ar~er
event they are
sometimes marked by chanzes in the tone of narration.
For examp1e. returninz home from the. war the diarist
de.o~ibe. hi. teelina. a. he·a~~ives. and the episode is
dominated bv ve1"bs in the t'irst person: ttu zoru sam
~IJ
stizao" (ttlj.,arrive at dawn"); "~a viC1im" (ttl oan see")1
"ja u~utim" ("I tall silent"). The tollowin~ entry
focuses on the reactions of his fami1y: ttDo~ek.uju
me i
p1a~u. Mati mi umire. Odvode me u ku6u nepoznatu. Ne
daju majci. Tetke me zr1e i p1a~utt ("They zreet me and
weep. My mother is dyinz. They take me off to a
stranze house. They don't 1et me see my mother. MY
aunts embrace me and weep"-12).
The omission of dates and the frequent chanzes from
one memory to another contribute to wh.at Miodrai:
petrovi6 describes as "vremenska neodredenost"
(tttempora1 imprecision" 13). in Which time appears to
provide no order for events in the diary.
Petrovi6 is
somewhat critica1 of this feature of Crnjanski's nove1.
However. a1thouch the unity of events does not re1y on
their succession and dUration in time.thev dO not
appear randomly. The diarist assembles his own temporal
scheme.
,
The succession of memories is based on the
associations which they ho1d for him in the moment of