Review article
MOURNING, MELANCHOLY AND MASOCHISM IN NOVELLA "ŽALOST" BY JANKO POLIĆ KAMOV
Zorica Jurčević
orcid.org/0000-0002-4186-4118
; Eötvös Jozsef Foiskola; Szegedi utca 2, H – 6500 Baja
Abstract
The paper explores the mourning of 12-year-old I-narrator after his sister’s death, through which his identity as a melancholic and as a masochist who devalues and rebukes himself is revealed. The loss of the beloved object is also revealed as loss of the Self, as well as gaps that need to be replaced, always with female characters. In doing so, the narrator’s libidinous energy directs from the mother to the maid,
and finally, in the form of an orgasmic experience, to the godmother. Since sexual relations to these characters are unattainable because they are erotic transgression, the emptiness takes over the I-narrator and becomes the lack of masculinity that he wants to reach, constantly comparing himself with male characters. The goal of this paper is to explore how the text configures the character through relations to the
lost object and show that the memory loss is connected to the loss of his own Self which, in this case, becomes completely depleted, and consequently – melancholic.
Keywords
masochism; melancholy; memory; mourning; the Self
Hrčak ID:
178251
URI
Publication date:
30.3.2017.
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