Haunted Serbia

Representations of History and War in the Literary Imagination

David Norris

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781909662650
• eBook ISBN: 9781317196389
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Languages
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Haunting is what happens when the past is disturbed and the victims of previous violence, who are thought to be buried and forgotten, are brought back to the present and made to live again. Serbian fiction writers of the 1980s exhume the ghosts of the past, re-remembering the cruelty of the twentieth century, reinterpreting the heroic role of the Partisans and the extraordinary measures taken to defend Yugoslavia's recently won independence and socialist revolution. Their uncanny and ghostly imagery challenges the assumptions of the master discourse promoted by the country's orthodox communist authorities and questions the historical roots of social and cultural identities. The instability of this period of transition is deepened during the wars of the 1990s, when authors turn from the memory of past violence to face the ferocious brutality of new conflicts. The haunting evocations in their work continue to articulate fresh uncertainties as the trappings of modern civilization are stripped away and replaced by the destructive logic of civil war. The past returns once more with renewed energy in the struggle to make sense of a vastly changed world.

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The Modern Humanities Research Association (MHRA) encourages and promotes advanced study and research in the field of the modern humanities, especially modern European languages and literature, including English, and also cinema. It aims to break down the barriers between scholars working in different disciplines and to maintain the unity of humanistic scholarship in the face of increasing specialization. The Association fulfils this purpose through the publication of journals, bibliographies, monographs, critical editions, and the MHRA Style Guide, and by making grants in support of research.

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EDITORIAL BOARD

Chairman

Professor Colin Davis, Royal Holloway, University of London

Professor Malcolm Cook, University of Exeter (French)

Professor Robin Fiddian, Wadham College, Oxford (Spanish)

Professor Anne Fuchs, University of Warwick (German)

Professor Paul Garner, University of Leeds (Spanish)

Professor Andrew Hadfield, University of Sussex (English)

Professor Marian Hobson Jeanneret,

Queen Mary University of London (French)

Professor Catriona Kelly, New College, Oxford (Russian)

Professor Martin McLaughlin, Magdalen College, Oxford (Italian)

Professor Martin Maiden, Trinity College, Oxford (Linguistics)

Professor Peter Matthews, St John’s College, Cambridge (Linguistics)

Dr Stephen Parkinson, Linacre College, Oxford (Portuguese)

Professor Suzanne Raitt, William and Mary College, Virginia (English)

Professor Ritchie Robertson, The Queen’s College, Oxford (German)

Professor David Shepherd, Keele University (Russian)

Professor Michael Sheringham, All Souls College, Oxford (French)

Professor Alison Sinclair, Clare College, Cambridge (Spanish)

Professor David Treece, King’s College London (Portuguese)

Managing Editor

Dr Graham Nelson

41 Wellington Square, Oxford OXI 2JF, UK

www.legendabooks.com

Haunted Serbia

Representations of History and War in the Literary Imagination

David A. Norris

Published by the

Modern Humanities Research Association

Salisbury House, Station Road, Cambridge CB1 2LA

and

Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and 605 Third Avenue, New York, ny 10017

LEGENDA is an imprint of the

Modern Humanities Research Association and Routledge

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

ISBN 978-1-909662-65-0 (hbk)

ISBN 978-1-315-55981-0 (ebk)

DOI: 10.4324/9781315559810

First published 2016

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or disseminated or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, or stored in any retrieval system, or otherwise used in any manner whatsoever without the express permission of the copyright owner

Disclaimer: Statements of fact and opinion contained in this book are those of the author and not of the editors, Routledge, or the Modern Humanities Research Association. The publisher makes no representation, express or implied, in respect of the accuracy of the material in this book and cannot accept any legal responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions that may be made.

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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

A catalog record for this book has been requested

© Modern Humanities Research Association and Routledge 2016

Printed in Great Britain

Cover: 875 Design

Copy-Editor: Nigel Hope

Contents

• Acknowledgements
• 1 Politics of Literature in Socialist Yugoslavia
• 2 Historical Fiction, Haunted Fiction
• 3 Restless Ghosts
• 4 Uncanny Histories
• 5 In the Shadow of War
• 6 Making War Real
• 7 NATO’s Phantoms
• Bibliography
• Index

Acknowledgements

I wish to acknowledge the assistance I have received from the School of Cultures, Languages and Area Studies and the Dean’s Fund of the Faculty of Arts, University of Nottingham, for allowing me sabbatical leave in 2012 and again in 2015. These periods gave me the crucial time I needed to spend on research and writing in order to complete this book. Many friends and colleagues have also helped, although I suspect that they were not all aware that what might have seemed a conversation on another topic has actually fed into this project. I have be...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title Page
• Frontmatter 1
• Frontmatter 2
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgements
• 1 Politics of Literature in Socialist Yugoslavia
• 2 Historical Fiction, Haunted Fiction
• 3 Restless Ghosts
• 4 Uncanny Histories
• 5 In the Shadow of War
• 6 Making War Real
• 7 NATO’s Phantoms
• Bibliography
• Index