TIME IN THE NOVELS OF MILOS CRNJANSKI - Nottingham eTheses

CHAPTER FOUR
antithesis to the ~ate o~ the Se~bian nation a~te~
Kosovo, a ~ate which the Isakovi~ ~amilv and
pa~ticula~lv Pavle ~eel so keenlv. Fo~ Pavle and his
cousins what thev a~e now expe~iencine is a continuation
of the effect of the Se~bian
defeat at Kosovo. foueht
almost fou~ hund~ed vea~s ea~lie~. The t~ain o~ events
from the battle of Kosovo to the mid-eiehteenth centurv
is the effect of a sinele event.
Pavle does not isolate
the diffe~ent staees as a se~ies of histo~icallv
dete~mined moments, linked th~oueh cause and e~fect with
the past and impend inc futu~e.
but he sees them as a
continuine moment of c~isis.
The epiC consoiousness of time exe~cises
a powe~ful
hold ove~ the familv.and the nation. The loss o~
independence and power. thei~ subsequent sea~ch for
"sre6a" svmbolised in the ;tou~nevs
Pavle undertakes on
behalf of the Russian embassv in Vienna. and his final
jou~nev
to Russia. are transformed into an archetvpe
~edolent o~ the mvth o~ ~all and salvation. Since Adam
and Eve we~e cast f~om the Ga~den o~ Eden. humanitv has
soueht salvation.
Like Moses leadine the Is~aelites
~rom Eevpt. the Se~bs were led ~~om the Ottoman Empi~e
bV C~nojevi6.
However. unlike the Israelites thev do
not ~ind their promised land. The Isakovi~ ~amilV is
prepared to co to wa~
(
in order to liberate their
homeland ~rom
Islam. echoine the underlvine militarism
ot the he~oic oult in epic. Pavle is prepared to ~1eht
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