„SAD IMAŠ VREMENA”: DETINJSTVO, STAROST I SEĆANJA U ROMANU „SMOKVA“ GORANA VOJNOVIĆA

Abstract

The novel The Fig by Goran Vojnović is formed through a narrative about the disrupted balance in the lives of members of a family, as well as their attempts to re-establish it. Disturbances in the rhythm of life are presented through various symbolic representations of the fig tree and its fruits, which, from the perspective of the main characters, the narrator Jadran Dizdar and his grandfather Aleksandar Đorđević, communicate the subjective experience of (the passage of) time, and the nostalgia for childhood and youth. The analysis includes reflections on dementia, death, old age, loneliness, and especially the fear of oblivion, which threatens to tear the heroes’ memories away. Facing themselves, in their most vulnerable states, and making the choice to live actively, here-and-now despite all the difficulties, allows both of them to eventually overcome that fear and achieve their long-desired liberation.