Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.17234/Croatica.69.13
CAPITALIST CONTENT, ABSURD FORM: RABELAISIAN LISTS IN MIROSLAV KRLEŽA’S "ON THE EDGE OF REASON"
Eric Bergman
orcid.org/0000-0003-3313-9095
; University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
In this paper, I show that Miroslav Krleža (2023 [1938]), in his novel "On the Edge of Reason", utilizes Rabelaisian lists so that the form of the narrative might mirror its content, which is the absurdity of capitalism that is attacked through satire. A Rabelaisian list is an overabundant itemizing of near-synonyms or specifics (e.g., nouns) that is characterized by the grotesque and laughter. In the novel, an ostensible binary is created between bourgeoisie society, typified by Dr. Hugo-Hugo in the courtroom chapter, and the narrator, who opposes the stupidity of this class. However, I argue that in terms of rhetoric or narratological form, both of these opposing agents symbolize, via their use of Rabelaisian lists, the excesses, absurdity, injustices, and the maddening dark comedy of capitalism. The link to capitalism is made in reference to Krleža’s (1966) preface to Krsto Hegedušić’s "Podravina Motifs" (Novakov-Ritchey 2022). Capitalist logic is shown to be one interlocutor in the Bakhtinian dialogism taking place in the narrative (Britton 1974). Thinking outside such a logic is deemed "morally insane" (Krleža 2023: 40) by the middle-to-upper classes within the storyworld. The satire attacks both the bourgeoisie class that the narrator vehemently opposes and the narrator himself as part of that class but, I argue, the underlying critique is of the capitalism that is responsible for harnessing such characters’ stupidity to create an unjust, class-stratified society in which peasants, who are mostly omitted from the narrative, are made invisible. The analysis is situated within a world literature frame premised upon the viability of conducting literary analysis via translated texts (Damrosch 2003; Culler 2007). The novel has been analyzed from its English translation with repercussions that are shortly outlined, including the need for a new, full translation of the novel.
Keywords
Miroslav Krleža; "On the Edge of Reason"; Rabelaisian lists; critique of capitalism; world literature; laughter; translation
Hrčak ID:
341290
URI
Publication date:
16.12.2025.
Visits: 453 *