Croatology, Vol. 13 No. 1-2, 2022.
Original scientific paper
Biblical Intertext in the Novel The Death of Mr. Medar by Ivan Dragojević
Dean Slavić
orcid.org/0000-0002-5168-1956
; The Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Sanja Medven
; The Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Supplements: 3.pdf
Abstract
Ivan Dragojević (1934 - 1999) was a critic of the former communist totalitarian system and his literary work did not correspond to the
dominant political structures. His novel The Death of Mr. Medar was published in 1971. The narrative speaks about the end of the 1950s and shows
the events in Vranjic near Split. The main character is the pre-war mayor Medar who becomes a victim of a group of people who want to kill him. A significant cause of persecution lies in various political ideas. The modes of fiction according to Northrop Frye, to which the mentioned novel
belongs, are determined. The biblical intertext is especially noticeable at
the level of the characters and in the structure of R. Girard’s scapegoat mechanism. The symbol of death, which represents important biblism,
is also examined. The author of the novel emphasizes the innocence of his characters, by which he wants to point out the real people who were
unjustly killed in the cruel regime, so he regularly refers to the socio-political circumstances of that time. The presence of the television series Our
Small Town, which served I. Dragojević as one of the sources in writing the novel, is also interpreted.
Keywords
Ivan Dragojević; The Death of Mr. Medar; modes of fiction; scapegoat mechanism; biblical intertext; Our Small Town
Hrčak ID:
280692
URI
Publication date:
19.7.2022.
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