TIME IN THE NOVELS OF MILOS CRNJANSKI - Nottingham eTheses

CHAPTER SIX
p~oject himself onto the histo~ical staee, but to find a
sense of self in which pu~pose,
meanine and beine a~e
self-p~esent.
The "consubstantial unitv" of the
individual, natu~e,
and societv soueht bV Pavle is to be
~ealised
in acvcle of ~epetition.
The Kosovo mvth ~ep~esents
a self-sufficient
tempo~al svstem. The beeinnine of the mvth is not pa~t
of a histo~ical p~ocess, and as such it lies outside the
chances which time b~ines.
mvth acknowledees no end.
In its denial of chance. the
Bioloeical time. decav. and
death have no meanine when viewed acainst a tempo~al
o~de~ which denies chance. Time does not divide
individuals f~om the meanines of past, p~esent. and
futu~e
in the mvthic moment which spans the centu~ies.
Pavle shows no conce~n at the p~ospect of death in
battle, because it is a svmbolic eestu~e
based on the
milita~v t~adition of the Se~bs. and which ~einfo~ces
the spi~it of selt-sac~itice cent~al to the Kosovo
ethic.
He savs to Volkov. "Oni idu u Rosiju. ne za
~inove. ne za po~cione novce, neeo zato da ratuju. na
st~ani slavom uven~anih ~osijskih·t~upa" (ttThev a~e
eoine to Russia, not for rank. not to~
monev. but to
waee wa~ on the side of the Russian t~oops c~owned with
elorv" 100). And late~ in the meetine h6 comments. "Oni
lele da ostanu otici~i,
da zavr.e livot u bitkama"
(ttThev want to remain office~s, to tinish thei~ lives in
battles" 101).
Pavle speaks to Volkov as if he is the
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