Malvina

by Mirko Kovač

"Malvina" je jedno od najuzbudljivijih proznih djela o patnji žene, koja bi mogla biti naša majka, sestra, žena, ljubavnica. Premda u mnogim svojim prozama pripovijeda u prvome licu, u "Malvini" je pripovjedački diskurs Mirka Kovača blizak doktrini T. S. Eliota o impersonalnosti pjesnika. Kao i likovi iz njegove proze, tako i on sam kao pripovjedač bježi od sebe postajući nekom vrstom katalizatora ili medija u kojemu sjedinjuje različita životna iskustva svojih protagonista. U prvi mah "Malvina" nas podsjeća na srednjovjekovne kronike i njena dramatičnost gotovo da je zatvorena iza samostanskih zidova (kao u slučaju portugalske redovnice iz 17. stoljeća koja svoju tajnu ispisuje u čudesnim pismima). Impersonalnost je u značajnoj mjeri usmjerila piščevu naraciju. Poput stroga analitičara i hladna ali precizna forenzičara, on slaže mozaik o Malvini, nesretnoj ženi, žrtvi spleta čudesnih okolnosti. Kovač iz dokumenata stvara lik Malvine, koja je i svetica i grešnica, transcendentalni mistik i žena u kojoj je sjeme ludila: ona pohađa školu za pravoslavne djevojke, bježi iz samostana s prvim znacima ludila te se udaje za jednako tako nesređena i nesretna čovjeka katoličke vjere, pokazujući sada već javno svoju perverznu ljubav prema Katarini. Sadistički uživa u osveti podvođenjem šesnaestogodišnje pokćerke, u njoj sve više raste val mržnje prema ljudima i napokon bježi natrag u samostan. Dokumenti o Malvininoj storiji ne bi smjeli ovu kroniku svesti na puki izvještaj o ženi simbolu nesreće, već taj roman možemo i moramo čitati kao jedan model ljudske egzistencije, kao ontološki problem bića, koji se kreće u luku od svetice do drolje i zato Kovač, vještinom majstora kolaža, s Malvine skida auru svetice mučenice prikazujući sve njene opačine, pokoru i "pranje vlastite grešnosti" prije ponovna ulaska medu zidine vječne transcendencijc. Na koncu nam pisac sugerira da nesreća i bol nisu samo osobna, Malvinina kob, nego je to način života svih likova u romanu, koji na posebno sugestivan način stvara osjećaje koji traju. Zanimljivost Malvine izvire iz same konfliktnosti glavne junakinje i upravo taj element utječe na jednu vrlo sugestivnu projekciju "povijesti duše i tijela" ili jedne neobične filoteje Malvine, mučenice, grešnice i pokajnice. Nije to bol dviju vjera nego sveopća bol — Weltschmerz.
Tomislav Sabljak

132 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Mirko Kovač was a Yugoslav writer. In his rich career he wrote novels, short stories, essays, film scripts, TV and radio plays. Among his best known works are the novella "Životopis Malvine Trifković", the novels "Vrata od utrobe", "Grad u zrcalu", the short story collection "Ruže za Nives Koen", the book of essays "Evropska trulež" and the scripts for some of the most successful films of Yugoslav cinema like Mali vojnici, Lisice, Okupacija u 26 slika and Pad Italije among others.

Kovač was born to a Croat father and a Serb mother in the village of Petrovići in Banjani region near Nikšić, Montenegro. He went to elementary school in Trebinje but after leaving his family at the age of 16 he went to Vojvodina where he finished high school in Novi Sad. During that time he discovered the works of poet Tin Ujević and became interested in literature. He went on to study the works of other notable Croatian authors like Ranko Marinković, Vladan Desnica, Antun Branko Šimić and Vjekoslav Kaleb. After finishing school he published his first essay called Tri pesnika (Three Poets) about the works of Tin Ujević, Branko Miljković and Oskar Davičo. His first book Gubilište was published in 1962 and caused a big bang on the Yugoslav literature scene. The communist authorities declared the book inappropriate because of its dark portrayal of life and started a campaign against Kovač which resulted in a year long polemic. Many authors including Predrag Matvejević and Danilo Kiš wrote in Kovač's defence.

He received: the Serbian NIN Prize in 1978 and the Andrić Prize in 1979, Swedish PEN Tucholsky Award (1993), German Herder Prize (1995), Montenegrin Njegoš Award (2009) and 13th July award (2004), Slovenian Vilenica Award (2003), Croatian Vladimir Nazor Award (2008) etc.

He lived in Belgrade, but moved to Rovinj, Croatia, his wife's hometown, after Slobodan Milošević came to power.

He died aged 75 in 2013 in his home of Rovinj in Istria.

Reviews

[Uroš Đurković · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ne bih se ovde zadržavao: Kovač je napisao vešto i kontroverzno, ali krajnje odbojno delo koje pulsira beznadežnošću. Čama učaurene mržnje grebe. Sve poštovanje za inovativnu i promišljenu strukturu dela. Čitalac tu dobija posebnu ulogu istražitelja, pa i sudije: 16 pronađenih rukopisa, odnosno, dokumenata tvore jedan uzbudljiv pripovedni preplet nalik na poglavlja koja daju ritam delu u celini. Ipak, istina jednog života, kako to uvek biva, opire se svakoj faktografiji i iako je Malvina, sudeći po predočenim materijalima, proživela nesrećan život, horizont iza teksta je još mračniji. Ali ta dopričavanja prepuštam svakom ponaosob, kako i treba.

[tea, boginja opste prakse · Rating 3 out of 5]

ovo je moj prvi susret sa gosn mirkom kovacem tako da bas nisam znala sta da ocekujem, mislila sam da se radi o lezbejkama casnim sestrama ali ipak se radi o lezbejCi koja ide u vjersku skolu, ali kako god, poboznost i lezbejstvo su teme koje se smijesane najlakse piju.........uglavnom, vajbovi su tu, a i sokirala sam se koliko skoro uopste nije fetisizovao lezbejski odnos i pretpostavljenu naivnost i nevinost koja dolazi sa malvininom poboznoscu. referira na justinu markiza de sada, sto je uvijek veliki plus🥰 uvijek sam tu za neki body horror i mutilaciju genitalija itd itd ali mogao je malo nekako bodlerovski te stvari da iznese, a ne da su te slike, kao, same sebi dovoljne....toga mi je nekako falilo......ali dobro u svakom slucaju vajbcina + procitala sam je u jednom dahu a preksjutra mi je kolokvijum (a ovo mi nije stivo za kolokvijum lmao) + zabavno je sto sam je ukrala iz citaonice i sad razmisljam da je ne vratim

[крсн · Rating 5 out of 5]

lezbejke, srbi, hrvati, lezbejke srbi i lezbejke hrvati, popovi, ubistva, samoubistva, pobačaji, silovanja, pedofilija, nekrofilija, isus, djevica marija, bičevanje, incest, pravni poslovi i pare... ah, moj regularni petak popodne, ako se ne varam

[Vesko Jovović]

Auh...

[E · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5ish
This is a very peculiar book. Unfortunately, my head was not really in it throughout the second half so I'm left feeling quite confused and somewhat disappointed because it had such a strong start. But the narrative structure is very cool, and it's always nice to read about places and times I know next to nothing about. And some moments in the "story" were described with a kind of raw or gruesome quality that I really enjoyed

[Milica Milosavljević]

?????

[Moth]

Ovu bi knjigu trebalo za školsku lektiru uvesti...

[ChiaraBoarina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Che finale macabro e inaspettato

[Catalina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to preface this review by saying that I am well aware the lesson that the reader was supposed to take home from this book was the age old hatred between different folk groups that med up Yugoslavia. And while that is a lesson that I read in many books, or maybe because of that, what was even more sensless to me was the violence towards women: by men, by other woman, by religion, by the system, etc. I suppose that was another aha-moment Kovac wanted us to have.
The form of the writing, like peeling an onion where every layer is a document was novel to me- what an exciting way to tell the story of several generations of women all being met by the same issues and somhow managing to contribute to their prepretuation.
A delight to read. I would like to belive that the somewhat bureaucratic form of writing was chosen as the most appropriate means of expression for senslessness that is forced upon you and that you have to work with. Bureaucracy, similarly to religion, violence against women, etc. is another aspect of society and its many facets that we sometimes part-take in and sometimes simply ignore/put up with.