TIME IN THE NOVELS OF MILOS CRNJANSKI - Nottingham eTheses

CHAPTER THREE
action, the focus on particu~ar
motifs, and the tendenc¥
for lan~ua~e
to imitate patterns of speech or dialo~ue
rather than the conventions of written prose (20).
The static nature of the action is particularl¥
evident in those sentences where the main verb is
omitted. Si~nificantl¥, the first sentence which states
the mood of resi~nation dominatin~ the text contains no
verb,
"Jesen, i livot bez smisia" ("Autumn, and life
without meanin~" 21). The same sentiment is repeated
later when the diarist writes "Oa jesen je. Opet livot
bez smisla" ("Yes it is autumn. A~ain ~i1'e without
meanin~" 22). Other sentences also contain no verb, as
in "Bi~o je Juna (sic). Veseo dan. Vidovdan" ("It was
in June. A hapP¥ d&¥. St Vitus' O&¥" 23). The effect
01' such sentences is compounded b¥others in which the
main verb of one sentence is used to ~overn
the one
1'ollowin~.
For example, the diarist writes "Kome ;fa ovo
pilem?
Mladi6ima. mom sinu bledom i napa6enom" ("Who am
I writin~ this for? For ¥oun~ men, for l'l1¥ son pale and
exhausted" 24) andt
H06u·da Vam pri~am.
o jednom ~oveku, koje~ ne mo~u da
zaboravim. i koji 1'111 bele vile neco brat.
Jedan jedini ~ovek. Jedan mladi6 u svetu
(25) •
I want to te~~ ¥ou.
About a man, whom I cannot
1'or~et, and who was more to me than a
brother. The one and on~¥ man. The onl¥
¥oun~ man in the wor~d.
Suoh sentences emphasise the retardation of aotion, and
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