TIME IN THE NOVELS OF MILOS CRNJANSKI - Nottingham eTheses

CHAPTER FIVE
to a past which is irrecoverable.
The manner of his
suicide is a s~mbolic ~esture to remove all trace of
himself. to escape the oppresive present. and step
outside time.
The manner of Rjepnin's suicide reveals his search
for a return to the past of his ideal values. associated
with childhood and his ori~in as a Russian. The past
which he re-creates becomes more'compellin~
than the
doubts of whether it is the true past.
Death is the
onl~ alternative for the bein~-in-time which he has
adopted. outside histor~ and the present. His search
leads him to a suicide which is redolent with ima~es
of
baptism. and total immersion in water.
His death is the
s~mbol of a new be~innin~. an end to natural life which
is the necessar~
precursor to life as an illusion. The
final sentence of the novel records that while no-one
knows of his final action. the li~ht
of the liahthouse
shines like a star. The star is the biblical s~mbol
of
the new-born. ~et here is onl~ like a star:
Samo je sa svetionika. na visini te
velike stene. kojom se park zavrAavao.
treperila jedna svetlost. cele no6i.
trepetom. kao da. tu. zemlja pokazuje
neku zvezdu (104).
Onl~ from the liahthouse. on the top of
the hiah cliff. at which the park ended.
flickered a licht. with a alimmer as if.
~ere. the earth reveals a star.
The link between the earth and the false star is the
final testimon~
of the transformation of his material
conditions into an existential issue of his
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