Govor prostora u Andrićevoj pripoveci „Zlostavljanje”

Abstract

The paper explores the way elements related to space influence readers’ reception of characters and events in Andrić’s story “Zlostavljanje” (1946). On the basis of “spatial relations language”, the ethno-psychological dimension of family relations and the issue of the destruction of the institution of marriage in the specific socio-cultural context is analyzed. The research focused on the complex description of the characters, where spatial opposites on the vertical axis (up‒down) play an important role, and particularly the opposites on the horizontal plane (inside‒outside). In the artistic world of Andrić’s story, the house becomes a metaphor for reconcilied extremes ‒ desired and achieved, forbiden and permitted. On the other hand, the space of the house has a topophobic conotation as well, since it generates the idea of escape or death, which is, for the main character, equal to deliverance and final salvation. It has been concluded that the structure of space represents one of the essential expressive means which directly influence characterization and transformation/deformation of the characters in the story “Zlostavljanje”