Hvar City Theatre Days, Vol. 51 No. 1, 2025.
Original scientific paper
Characteristics of Apocalyptic Discourse in the Prose and Poetry of Lana Derkač
Vesna Vlašić
Abstract
Lana Derkač, a native of Požega and an award-winning poet, has explored various genres, including poetry, prose, and drama. Her poetry has been translated into several world languages. As a representative of the middle generation, she captures the apocalyptic framework of war, earthquakes, pandemics, and other traumatic events that have shaken the world in recent decades. Through her socially engaged writings, she critically examines problematic realities and demonstrates particular empathy for refugees. Her collection of short stories, The Address Book of Death, delves into themes of apocalypse and various disasters, narrativizing traumas ranging from war and earthquakes to environmental pollution. It highlights their impact on everyday life, portraying a »dislocated world« marked by, among other things, widespread migrations. Similar themes are explored in her poetry collection Hotel for the Dead. In addition to these collections, the research corpus will include poems published in various journals, where she examines the discourse of war, with a special focus on the war in Ukraine. Derkač emphasizes our responsibility in the face of a potential apocalyptic collapse of the world. Despite the dark connotations, moments of balance, light, warmth, and optimism persist, suggesting that these elements still endure.
Keywords
Lana Derkač; The Address Book of Death; Hotel for the Dead; trauma; apocalypse
Hrčak ID:
330798
URI
Publication date:
14.5.2025.
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