Images of Space as an Element of Narrative Strategy (“Zemljevidi domotožja” by Boris A. Novak)

Abstract

The poetic epic of the outstanding Slovenian poet Boris A. Novak “Vrata nepovrata” (2015–2017) has become a landmark phenomenon of contemporary Slovenian poetry. It is the first example of the epic genre in verse in the history of national literature, which amazes with the scale of the concept – it consists of three volumes: “Zemljevidi domotožja”, “Čas očetov” and “Bivališča duš”, the total volume of which is more than 40 thousand verses. The work is based on family traditions and legends of the Novak family, the epic narrative is built on memories as a documentary autobiographical story in verse about “time and about oneself”, ancestors, relatives, friends, key events in national and European history. The connecting link of all three books is the motif of wandering, which is realized on three levels: those of space, time and memory. The article, based on the first volume of “Zemljevidi domotožja”, examines one of the key elements of the author’s narrative strategy – images of space that reveal the secret meanings and symbolism of those corners of the earth, public places and areas of everyday life that at different periods of time left a significant trace in his consciousness and memory. These include rivers, lakes, seas, islands, mountains, forests, fields, gardens, cities, villages, streets, houses, bedrooms, nurseries, kitchens, editorial offices, dance floors, theater stages, barracks, prisons, hospitals, and graves. To each place a separate song is dedicated. Being, on the one hand, a “supporting structure”, a framework for the narrative, these loci at the same time serve to reconstruct real episodes from the life of the poet, members of his family, his native country, Europe as a whole in the context of a bygone and ongoing era. Thus, through the “experience” of specific spaces, the fate of the lyrical hero is “embedded” in the course of life itself. The original images of spaces appearing in the epic represent the structural-semantic model of the world of Boris A. Novak, expressed in the language of his spatial representations.

Received: 21.02.2025.
Revised: 04.03.2025.
Accepted: 18.03.2025.

Citation
Starikova N. N. Images of Space as an Element of Narrative Strategy (“Zemljevidi domotožja” by Boris A. Novak) // Slavic Almanac. 2025. No 1–2. P. 367–384 (in Russian). DOI: 10.31168/2073-5731.2025.1-2.18