Zastave I-V

by Miroslav Krleža

Politička tema romana otvara široku historijsku perspektivu na život hrvatskih, srpskih i madžarskih generacija, rođenih između šezdesetih i devedesetih godina prošlog stoljeća. U periodu koji obuhvaća vremenski razmak između pogibije Obrenovića, banovanja grofa Khuena i balkanskih ratova, glavnim licima kompozicije, osim njihovih individualnih sudbina, vitla još i dramatski politički vihor, kao u oluji izgubljenim pticama.
U predvečerje austro-ugarskog sloma, u narkozi mnogobrojnih i raznovrsnih iluzija, obmana i nada, usred neprozirne koprene od dima požara i dinamita Prvog svjetskog rata, dva se pokoljenja probijaju u ovom romanu kroz magle i neizvjesnu stvarnost, da bi predratnu političku borbu produžila pod novim okolnostima, na terenu novonastalog SHS Kraljevstva, u sve kobnijem kontrastu nacionalne i socijalne diferencijacije. (M. K.)

Genres: Fiction

1826 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1962

About the author

A leading Croatian writer and figure in the cultural life of both Yugoslav states, the Kingdom (1918-1941) and the Republic (from 1945, until his death in 1981). He has been often proclaimed as the greatest Croatian writer of the 20th century.

Reviews

[Tijana]

Čitanje Zastava: samoodabrana trka s preponama. I da li se isplatilo? Pa... jeste.
Suva je šteta što se većina ljudi koje znam s Krležom upoznala preko školske lektire, u uzrastu kad je najprirodnija moguća reakcija na Krležu beskrajni smor. I u ovim *khm* malo poznijim godinama potrebno je dosta strpljenja i sposobnost da se preguraju duže deonice koje vas ič ne zanimaju, npr. dvesta strana žučnih debata o odnosu Hrvatske i Mađarske unutar Austrougarske i o regnikolarcima (uzmite guglajte, nisam ni ja znala ko su) tako što se koncentrišete na autorovu sposobnost da se uživi u tuđ glas i način razmišljanja i da razvije svoju beskrajno inventivnu sposobnost vređanja na sto načina pa da to povremeno preseče nekim lirskim pasažom i/ili konkretnim dešavanjem. (Dešavanja ima za, recimo, solidnu novelu o odnosu oca i sina plus sinovljevom stvarno žalosnom ljubavnom životu.) Krleža jeste veliki pisac ali makar u ovoj knjizi apsolutno ga zabole da zainteresuje čitaoca ili da mu olakša, on ima svoj cilj - da pokaže šta sve zna i ume na spisateljskom planu i da pruži jedan VRLO opširan presek politike na Balkanu u periodu 1913-1922. Pa ako čitalac izdrži (i ako ima dovoljno ukućana poliglota da se izbore sa jezicima u rasponu od latinskog preko nemačkog do italijanskog plus minus francuski, engleski... i kajkavski) imao je i rašta.

[Nathan "N.R." Gaddis]

Zastave I - V in its original Croatian. But here's the newly trans'd German edition (but where's the pb in the gr=db? "Kindle in fünf Bänden"?!")

At any rate. TRANS=sLate Pleeze!


"...and suggests yet again that it is a European classic."
http://www.complete-review.com/saloon...
So many of these. Right now we're getting another into English :: Antagonía.

[Mirela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pročitala samo prvu knjigu od 5

[Jethro Tull · Rating 5 out of 5]

Treći puta u životu pročitao Zastave. Ma užitak!

[Bardon Kaldian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think it was the late Croatian literary historian Zoran Kravar, who pointed out that Krleža’s last & most voluminous novel “Zastave”/Banners are the best antidote for what he called a “reader’s deficiency”, when he compared Krleža’s last novel with better known German language long novels like Musil’s “Man without Qualities” and Broch’s “The Death of Virgil”, both monumental works- explicitly saying that Krleža’s last novel is of the same literary eminence as the two acclaimed German language novels. The novel has been dubbed “summa croatica”. True, Musil’s work is richer in nuanced and abstract thought, but frequently criticized as not being a novel at all, just a dry philosophical tractatus in novelist disguise, peopled by paper-thin characters & unbelievable accidents; Broch’s last novel is spiritually deeper and also a language masterwork, but if suffers from the same deficiency- too much technical elaboration on fluctuation of Virgil’s dying consciousness, the epiphany coming only at the end. On the other hand, Krleža’s novel is still fresh. It does depict the pre-WW1 period of Croatia and post-War, to some extent, but this historical and social setting is only a stable framework for the whole enterprise. The novel is both essayist, as are Musil’s and Broch’s & realist, populated by vivid characters and a biting satire- here, non-Yugoslav readers won’t be able to catch nuances; it is also a discursive and poetic novel, the true summa of Krleža’s novelist and essayist work. Zastave devours all genres and it is impossible to categorize.

My only objection would be that this novel, which crosses genre categorizations (it is psychological, social, historical, political,… and the approach is modernist, essayist and discursive, with numerous language experiments, the novel being also a feast of the language) is, essentially, not finished. It should have contained at least 2 or 3 more books, in addition to the already existing 5. But- I may be wrong. Krleža should, having in mind the chronology, have to dismiss the Lenin myth which he had cultivated all his life, and I am not sure that he could have done this, so that Zastave would instead end with a whimper, not a bang. And, that’s why he stopped.

[Zlatko Dimitrioski · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Whew, this was long. A lot autobiographical elements and - typical Krleža - a lot of philosophical and political discussions (a showcase of his encyclopedic knowledge). However, it was too long (longer than War and Peace, for example, with which it has been compared) and unfinished (Krleža planned to write nine books, finishing with 1941). There were some excellent parts (the half star is for them), but also many redundant ones. Overall, it was readable. Nonetheless, Krleža is a great writer, a genius autodidact, who knows much, more than anyone else, as Matvejević described him.