In this collection of essays, authors propose a temporal shift in (post-)Yugoslav studies. By taking into account select examples from literature, art, and culture, the volume questions a possibility of explaining the temporal structure underlying the theoretical and analytical concepts employed in understanding (post-)Yugoslav literature(s) and culture(s). Analyses undertaken in the essays showcase that the (post-)Yugoslav literary, artistic, and cultural practices do not only attempt to portray the demise of the state and the succeeding war between its former republics. Instead, the authors underscore that the critical (post-)Yugoslav studies task is to evince and critically reflect on and engage with the processes before and after the dissolution to capture the collapse itself.
Section 1 Time Unbound: De-synchronized Temporalities of Modernity, the (Neo-)Avant-Garde, Post-modernity, and the Concept of (Post-)Yugoslav Literature
Aleksandar Mijatović, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Literary Theory and History at the Department of Croatian Language and Literature, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Rijeka. He has recently authored the book
Temporalities of Post-Yugoslav Literature: The Politics of Time (2020).
Brian Willems, Ph.D., European Graduate School, is Associate Professor of Literature and Film at the University of Split. His most recent books are
Zug efekt (2021) and
Speculative Realism and Science Fiction (2017).
Acknowledgements Notes on Contributors
Introduction Aleksandar Mijatović and Brian Willems
Part 1: The Concept of (Post)-Yugoslav Time
Section 1: Time Unbound: De-synchronized Temporalities of Modernity, the (Neo)-Avant-Garde, Post-modernity, and the Concept of (Post)-Yugoslav Literature
1
Past Fragments, Future Change: Dubravka Ugrešić, Vladan Desnica, Sanja Iveković, and Dalibor Martinis Brian Willems 2
“The Historical Moment before Our Eyes”: On Producing Post-Yugoslav Literature Tijana Matijević 3
Whose (Neo-)Avant-Garde? The Poetry of Josip Sever, Yugoslav Modernity, and the Problem of Mononational Literary History Lujo Parežanin
Section 2: From the Time That Belongs to No-One to Temporalities of Non-belonging
4
The End of the World as We Know It? Anti-utopia in Post-Yugoslav Literature Boris Postnikov 5
Post-Yugoslav Dystopian Dilemmas and Writing the History of the Future: Alternative Version or Parodic Subversion? Miranda Levanat-Peričić 6
Kant Has Some Relevance Here: On a Fictional Theory of Quentin Meillassoux and the Theoretical Fiction of Luka Bekavac Ante Jerić 7
The Narrative Out of Time: The Nonhuman World of Luka Bekavac’s Fiction Matija Jelača and Anera Ryznar
Part 2: Application(s) of/to (Post)-Yugoslav Time
Section 1: Unhinging Memory and Space: Remembering (Post)-Yugoslav Time
8
Re-reading/Writing Yugoslav Pasts and Presents in Post-Yugoslav Literature: Between (Yugo-)Nostalgia and “Lateral Networks” Mirko Milivojević 9
Spaces of Memory in Dragan Velikić’s Novel Investigator Danijela Marot Kiš 10
In Search of Home Time Kujtim Rrahmani
Section 2: De-composing Broken Bonds: The Culture of Non-relational Relation
11
Cultural Values and the Circularity of ‘Transition’ in Croatia: Post-war Literature and Film Saša Stanić and Marina Biti 12
Writing against the Code and Fitting in with the Code: Reading Dubravka Ugrešić in the Context of the International Literary Field Iva Kosmos 13
Narrations of Lost and Found: The Twists and Turns of the Friendship Discourse in the (Post)Yugoslav Environment Zala Pavšič
Index
Anyone concerned with the (post-)Yugoslav literature and culture, ranging from the academic specialists, educated non-specialists to college departments and libraries.