TIME IN THE NOVELS OF MILOS CRNJANSKI - Nottingham eTheses

CHAPTER ONE
Rjepnin he concludes that thev arrived in Enaland in
1941: a date which would match the date of Crnjanski's
own arrival in Enaland with his wife.
In Koljevi6's
reckon ina this means that the "present tense of the
novel is 'set in 1946 and 1947" (109).
However. at one
point in the novel. while Rjepnin takes his wife to
Southampton to aet the boat for America. there is
mention of the Berlin air-lift. -Accordina to this
evidence. the novel is set in 1947 and 1948.
On arrival in London. thev are wealthv and stav in
the Park Lane Hotel. but when the novel opens thev are
livina in a small flat in Mill Hill.
Rjepnin has not
worked fora vear. and Na4a keeps them both bV sellina
her splendid cowns and makina doll$.
made the worse bv their isolation.
Their povertv is
Thev do not see anv
friends and have little contact with their neichbours
and other inhabitants of London.
In this desperate
situation Rjepnin feels particularlV cuiltv that his
wife is forced to share his povertv. and at the
becinnina of the novel he considers suicid.. Their
mat.rial probl.ms ease when Rjepn1n cets a job as a
book-k.eper in a shoe shop in central London.
Thev are
also h.lped bV an imiar' Polish count.... Panova. who
finds them better aCQommodaton. and pavs for Rjepn1n'to
take a holidav in Cornwall.
Th. hot.l where he stave is
one which is often used bv Russian and Polish 6micr6e.
amonaet whom he makes n.w friend..
How.ver. Rjepnin