Asmodejev šal

by Ivan Aralica

„Во спарно утро кога умираат ноќните пеперутки, бос и во сукнен фустан, жеден и прегладнет, по жешкиот песок одеше проповедникот Серафим. Се што имаше им раздели на сиромашните попат. Но прифаќајќи го животот како прилика за дарување, иако сиромашен како пустинско глувче, со дарежлива душа се чувствуваше богат.“

Genres: Novels

196 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Born in Promina near Knin, and having finished pedagogical school and Philosophical Faculty at the University of Zadar, Aralica had worked in post-war period as a high school teacher in the backwater villages of the rural hinterland of northern and central Dalmatia. After a period of Communist infatuation (which resulted in a few weak novellas that can be labeled as socialist realism period pieces), Aralica was swept into the vortex of turbulent events known as the “Croatian spring” (1971). During this tumultuos era he allied with those who advocated greater Croatian autonomy and freedom for Croatian people in Communist Yugoslavia. The crackdown on the Croatian national movement and subsequent professional and social degradation resulted in Aralica’s return to his Christian and Catholic roots, abandonment of doctrinaire propagandist literature and formation of his own literary credo. Among world authors, he was influenced chiefly by realist fiction and early Modernism, the key authors being Ivo Andrić, Thomas Mann and Knut Hamsun.

From 1979 to 1989 Aralica published eight novels, which can be best described as modernist rewritings of historical fiction. The best among them (Psi u trgovištu/Dogs in a bazaar, 1979; Duše robova/Slaves’ souls, 1984; Graditelj svratišta/Builder of an inn, 1986; Asmodejev šal/Asmodey’s shawl, 1988) show similar traits: these are essentially novels of complex narrative techniques recreating dramatic events in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina from 16th to 18th century and describing historical fatum of Croats caught in the “clash of civilizations”- a three centuries long warfare between Austria, the Ottoman Empire and Venice. Aralica successfully mastered many divergent elements in his fiction, so that his finest novels are both replete with contemplative wisdom sayings on human condition and rammed with action; also, his artistry is expressed in numerous naturalist passages integrated in the overarching Christian vision of life where natural and the supernatural fuse into one reality.

After the democratic changes in Croatia and the collapse of Yugoslavia, Aralica was elected to the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts; also, he re-entered politics, this time on the list of Croatian Democratic Union (Hrvatska demokratska zajednica/HDZ), a party headed by the independent Croatia’s first president Franjo Tudjman. Aralica held a few influential positions, the most important among them being vice-president of Croatian Parliament. During this period he wrote two books of political essays (one about the genesis of Serbian imperialism, the other on historical complexities of the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina), and two other novels.

The year 2000 was another turning point for Aralica: his party, HDZ, lost the elections and power, and writer was embroiled in a bitter polemic with new authorities (which were to hold power in next four years). Aralica then started writing satirical novels of ideas (novels with keys, i.e. thinly disguised quasi-faction). Most famous one is “Fukara”/Good for nothing, 2002, a satirical-political attack on multiculturalist ideology as promulgated by controversial American billionaire George Soros. The literary value of his works published during this period was often disputed, and they were seen by many left-wing literary critics (Perišić, Jergović, Tagirov, Alajbegović) as little more than tasteless political pamphlets. However, Aralica has also become one of the cultural and intellectual icons of the rigid conservatism in Croatia, advocating the return to the tradition symbolized by "ognjište" (hearth). Intellectuals on the Right defended his novels claiming that they were brilliant political satires.

Still vigorously writing in his eight decade, Aralica is considered as one of the best Croatian novelists of the 2nd half of the 20th century.

Reviews

[Bruno · Rating 4 out of 5]

CRO/ENG
Ovaj mi je roman došao neočekivano, s obzirom da sam planirao pročitati ''Jesen patrijarha'' od Marqueza, što će pričekati do iduće jeseni. Za samu knjigu, definitivno ostavlja bolji dojam od razočaravajućeg ''Konjanika'' (istoimena filmska adaptacija je odlična) i bitno doprinosi prikazu života u ruralnom, planinskom dijelu Dalmacije i susjedne Bosne i Hercegovine, kombinirajući ga sa ljubavnom dramom i moralnim vrijednostima. Pogotovo sam uživao u epizodama gdje domišljatost žene jednog od protagonista dolazi do važnosti u različitim situacijama, pritom odolijevajući iskušenjima zadatka kojega je postavila samoj sebi. Dok je u prvoj polovici romana priča koncipirana kao zbirka crtica iz prošlosti, u drugoj glavni protagonist, pod tajnim zadatkom, pokušava doznati što više iza zakulisa potencijalne vjere ili nevjere (za koju nisam siguran da imamo jasan kraj) i tu polako počinjem gubiti pozornost zbog preopširne i uspavljujuće radnje (kao da su neka poglavlja dodana naknadno, bez prevelike razlike ili važnosti na sam tijek), koja opet dobiva na smislu samo zato što je iza namjere protagonista (naočigled sitna) postojala lekcija koju je morao naučiti na bolniji način. Svakako bih ju volio pročitati još jednom, kada uhvatim vrijeme.

This novel came unexpectedly, since I've planned to read ''The Autumn of the Patriarch'' by Marquez, which will wait until next Autumn. For book itself, it definitely leaves a better impression than disappointing ''Horseman'' (while the adaptation of the same name is excelent) and greatly contributes to showing the life in rural, mountainous part of Dalmatia and neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina, combining it with a romance drama and moral values. I especially enjoyed in the episodes where the wife of one of the protagonists comes to importance in different situations, while resisting the temptations of a task she put on herself. While the first half is conceived like a collection of past events, in the other half the main protagonist, under a covered assignment, tries to discover as much as possible behind the curtains of a potential faithfulness or unfaithfulness (for which I'm not so certain that we have a clear end) and this is where I start to lose to pay my attention because of it's over extensive and soporific plot (like some of the chapters have been added later, without too much of a difference or importance to the plot), which get again it's meaning just because there is a lesson the main protagonist (at first glance minor) had to learn the harder way. I would definitely like to read it once again, when I catch some time.

[Pavle Ole Jeličić · Rating 5 out of 5]

Asmodejev šal je igra ljubavi i sudbine.