Autobiography as a Genre in Pod Puškom [At Gunpoint] by Kumičić

Abstract

This article deals with the problem of the autobiography as a genre and its functional stratification through the example of the work Pod puškom [At Gunpoint] by Kumičić. In literary theory the concept of autobiography is difficult to define, primarily because of the author–narrator–character relationship, but also because of the blending of truth and fiction in such forms of prose as are often diverse in their mode of expression though similar in content. The relationship between the three entities author–narrator–character is defined in the context of religiosity, since it affects one’s subjective understanding of reality. In texts on literature history Kumičić’s autobiographical work is defined in various ways, and this is a result of both the problem of defining autobiography and also the author’s stylistic polyvalence. Namely, Kumičić wrote at a time when Realism flourished, still he used the literary techniques of Romanticism, as also elements of the travelogue.