TIME IN THE NOVELS OF MILOS CRNJANSKI - Nottingham eTheses

CHAPTER SIX
historica1 circumstances in which a return to Serbia is
impossib1e.
preservin~
In Russia he sees the possibility of
those e1ements of Serbdom which bind the
community and nation to~ether.
and in which he wi11 be
able to re-establish his purpose in life. He is
creatin~
a different historica1 model. based on a
different promise. which will also never be fulfilled.
On the other hand. it offers him a return to. and a
reformu1ation of. somethin~ which he can re~ard as the
essence of his bein~.
He 1ives in a dialectic between
his sense of bein~-in-time
and history. which has been
accommodated to the new symb01s of Russia and the star.
Vuk is on1y at ease with himse1f when the present
tense of his livin~ is reflected in such symbols. The
more strikin~ symb01 of Isakovi~fs idea1 is the star.
It appears as the chapter headin~
for both the first and
last chapters "Beskrajni. plavi kru~.
U njemu. zvezda"
("An infinite b1ue circle. In it. a star" 31). which is
repeated in the first Chapter as Vuk wakes:
Tada. pomu6enom svel6u. prvo za~uje 1ave!
pasa i poj petlova. da odmah zatim lirom.
u mraku. otvori o~i i ne vidi ni.ta. a1i
da mu se u~ini kao da vidi. u visini.
beskrajan. plavi kruc. I. u njemu.
zverdu (38) •
...........
Then. in his disturbed consciousness. he
first heard the barkin~ of the do~s and
of the cocks. then
immediately he opened his eyes wide in
the darkness and saw nothinc. but it
seemed to him as if he could see. hi~habove.
an infinite. blue circle. And. in
it. a star.
-the crowin~
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