PARALITERARNI EPOS BORISLAVA PEKIĆA

Abstract

The paper examines formal and thematic framework of the novel Atlantis by Borislav Pekić, in an attempt to determine the position of this literary text within broader context of contemporary Serbian fiction. Basing our argumentation on Pekić’s understanding of literary form as the conveyer of epistemological potential resulting from the organic union of ideological, narratological, and semiotic aspect of a text, as well as the importance of subtitle poetics in his fiction, we have attempted to reexamine the genre dimension of the novel. Accordingly, interpreting Atlantis as an exponent of metaphysical detective fiction, a hybrid genre grounded in both rational deduction and philosophical contemplation, has raised the question concerning Pekić’s understanding of literature, anthropocentrism, and humanity