TIME IN THE NOVELS OF MILOS CRNJANSKI - Nottingham eTheses

CHAPTER FIVE
psvche wh1Ch eX1sts bevond the object1ve know~ed~e o~
evervdav th1n~s and 1nhab1ts a wor.ld o~ the 1ntu1tive.
In tempora~ terms. the sa1~or represents what Ber~.on
reterred to as pure durationl
Pure durat10n 1S the ~orm wh1ch the
succession o~ our conscious states
assumes when our e~o ~ets .itse.lf.P ~ive.
when it retrains .trom sepa.ratin~ its
present state. ~rom 1ts ~ormer states
(42) •
His wor~d
is one in which time does not divide the
subject ~rom experience. He conta1ns within each moment
past and present.
Neither Raj1~ nor the sa1~or is the narrator o~ the
nove~. They are both projections o~ di~terent aspects
o~ ea.rnojevi~'s psyche. Raji~ 1S a ticure who is
determined by the repressed memories o~
the diarist who
1S searchin~ ~or answers to his Questions and to his
teelin~s ot ~ui~t. However. h1S re-creation ot the past
becomes a means o~ avoid1n~ action and estab~ishin~ his
presence. The implications and si~niticance ot his
memories do not surtace in the present.
His memories
swamp lite, and reduce a~l
time to meanin~less
absurditv, transient. and with no ~uture.
in which
evervthin~
disdain ~or
will pass into oblivion as he restates his
the past. and dismissal ot anv potential
tuture.
On the other hand, in his dream about
the sailor, the diarist remarks that "znali smo da nam
je budu~nost
na ulici" ("we knew that our tuture was on
the streets" 43). The sailor presents a dit~erent model
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