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Kiklop
In his semiautobiographical novel, Cyclops, Croatian writer Ranko Marinković recounts the adventures of young theater critic Melkior Tresić, an archetypal antihero who decides to starve himself to avoid fighting in the front lines of World War II. As he wanders the streets of Zagreb in a near-hallucinatory state of paranoia and malnourishment, Melkior encounters a colorful circus of characters—fortune-tellers, shamans, actors, prostitutes, bohemians, and café intellectuals—all living in a fragile dream of a society about to be changed forever.
A seminal work of postwar Eastern European literature, Cyclops reveals a little-known perspective on World War II from within the former Yugoslavia, one that has never before been available to an English-speaking audience. Vlada Stojiljković’s able translation, improved by Ellen Elias-Bursać’s insightful editing, preserves the striking brilliance of this riotously funny and densely allusive text. Along Melkior’s journey Cyclops satirizes both the delusions of the righteous military officials who feed the national bloodlust as well as the wayward intellectuals who believe themselves to be above the unpleasant realities of international conflict. Through Stojiljković’s clear-eyed translation, Melkior’s peregrinations reveal how history happens and how the individual consciousness is swept up in the tide of political events, and this is accomplished in a mode that will resonate with readers of Charles Simic, Aleksandr Hemon, and Kundera.
479 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1965
109 people are currently reading
1785 people want to read
About the author
Ranko Marinković
32 books46 followersRanko Marinković (22 February 1913 – 28 January 2001) was a Croatian novelist and dramatist.
Born in Komiža on the island of Vis (then a part of Austria-Hungary), Marinković's childhood was marked by World War I. He later earned a degree in philosophy from the University of Zagreb. In the 1930s, he began to make his name in Zagreb literary circles with his plays and stories.
His career was interrupted briefly during World War II. When his native island was occupied by fascist Italy, he was arrested in Split and interned on the Italian mainland. After the capitulation of Italy, Marinković went to Bari, and then to the El Shatt refugee camp where he made contacts with Tito's Partisans. After the war, he spent time working in the theatre.
His best known works are Glorija (1955), a play in which he criticised the Catholic Church, and Kiklop (1965), a semi-autobiographical novel in which he described the gloomy atmosphere among Zagreb intellectuals before the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia. Kiklop later was adapted into a 1982 movie directed by Antun Vrdoljak.
In the last years of his life Marinković embraced the political views of Franjo Tuđman, and became a member of the Croatian Democratic Union.
He died in Zagreb.
Born in Komiža on the island of Vis (then a part of Austria-Hungary), Marinković's childhood was marked by World War I. He later earned a degree in philosophy from the University of Zagreb. In the 1930s, he began to make his name in Zagreb literary circles with his plays and stories.
His career was interrupted briefly during World War II. When his native island was occupied by fascist Italy, he was arrested in Split and interned on the Italian mainland. After the capitulation of Italy, Marinković went to Bari, and then to the El Shatt refugee camp where he made contacts with Tito's Partisans. After the war, he spent time working in the theatre.
His best known works are Glorija (1955), a play in which he criticised the Catholic Church, and Kiklop (1965), a semi-autobiographical novel in which he described the gloomy atmosphere among Zagreb intellectuals before the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia. Kiklop later was adapted into a 1982 movie directed by Antun Vrdoljak.
In the last years of his life Marinković embraced the political views of Franjo Tuđman, and became a member of the Croatian Democratic Union.
He died in Zagreb.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 142 reviews
March 10, 2022
Nešto je poetično u tome što maturanti opterećeni stresom i strahom čitaju Kiklopa.
July 8, 2019
Teške droge.
April 7, 2014
The historical tomorrow: and when men discovered the divine power of matter, it came to reign over them, confusing their minds, blighting their lives and then swallowing itself and turning into a Force which destroyed all laws and there is now not a single consciousness left that could proclaim it stupid in the name of Hegel.
Ranko Marinkovic's Cyclops is likely my favorite novel of the year. It is a Ulysses of Zagreb in 1940 with the howl of War in the air. A theatre critic fears for the future and pines for a certain beauty, he ignores her particulars and ascribes her a mythic persona. The critic worries about conscription and notes how his weight plummets. His paranoid caprice continues apace on a story about castaways imprisoned by cannibals.
The Joycean delight takes a number of dark turns. The narrative rests in purgatory, a Catch-22 for the Damned. It returns to Zagreb as the Wehrmacht are poised to invade Yugoslavia. What unfolds is a bizarre variation on the Ithaca episode.
The novel would've benefited from footnotes, especially towards the Serbo-Croat literary references. Despite my minor qualm, Cyclops is a staggering work
Ranko Marinkovic's Cyclops is likely my favorite novel of the year. It is a Ulysses of Zagreb in 1940 with the howl of War in the air. A theatre critic fears for the future and pines for a certain beauty, he ignores her particulars and ascribes her a mythic persona. The critic worries about conscription and notes how his weight plummets. His paranoid caprice continues apace on a story about castaways imprisoned by cannibals.
The Joycean delight takes a number of dark turns. The narrative rests in purgatory, a Catch-22 for the Damned. It returns to Zagreb as the Wehrmacht are poised to invade Yugoslavia. What unfolds is a bizarre variation on the Ithaca episode.
The novel would've benefited from footnotes, especially towards the Serbo-Croat literary references. Despite my minor qualm, Cyclops is a staggering work
June 7, 2015
Jeste ovo vrhunska književnost, ali nekako mi nije leglo. Jeste sjajan prikaz predosećanja svetskog rata i psihičkog raspada i jeste da obiluje čovekomrzačkim cinizmom, stilski do krajnosti uglačanim... e, biće da je u tom cinizmu i večitom poricanju stvar, slabo ih varim u ovim godinama. Plus sveprisutno gnušanje prema telesnom.
Ali ako izuzmemo to lično predubeđenje, da, knjiga je odlična, za svaku preporuku: to jest ako, recimo, volite Bernharda i Krležu, ovo je tako negde na sredokraći.
Ali ako izuzmemo to lično predubeđenje, da, knjiga je odlična, za svaku preporuku: to jest ako, recimo, volite Bernharda i Krležu, ovo je tako negde na sredokraći.
April 8, 2021
skužaj, ranko.
it's not you, it's me.
it's not you, it's me.
January 14, 2024
CRO/ENG
Kada sam prvi put čitao ovu knjigu prije 11 godina, dojam mi je bio razočaravajuć, zbog opsega romana, upropaštenog sažecima iz priručnika za lektiru (nap. nisam imao ovaj roman za lektiru), uz prenaglašenu svakodnevicu glavnog lika i konfuziju između unutarnjih misli i njegova razgovora sa drugim ljudima. Sada, 11 godina kasnije, kada sam ponovno pročitao ''Kiklopa'' i pogledao filmsku adaptaciju Antuna Vrdoljaka, dojam mi se promjenio u pozitivnom smislu, premda i dalje imam problema sa opsegom knjige. Međutim, što je djelo gubilo u sadržaju i njegovoj širini, nadomjestilo je dubinom čovjekove duše, ispunjene grozotom i strahom, kojega se ne bi postidjeli ni Joseph Conrad sa ''Srcem tame'' ni William Golding sa ''Gospodarem muha''. Iako je tematikom bliži Hemingway-u, motivi i atmosfera u knjizi su zastrašujući i prije bih ovo djelo uspoređivao sa prvom dvojicom autora, premda mi sam lik Polifema nikada nije bio aluzija na nešto globalnog karaktera (ništa više od drugih bića iz Homerova epa, ali, jasno, riječ je o slobodnom izražavanju), koliko pojedinca, izoliranog od društva i bez ikakva morala, osim vlastitog ega. Filmska verzija je vjerna originalu, ali joj nedostaje unutarnjih monologa jer se riječi ''kiklop'' i ''Polifem'' ne spominju ni jednom u trajanju od otprilike 2 sata, čime sam naslov gubi smisao, osim ako osoba nije čitala knjigu, da bi shvatila Melkiorovo čudno ponašanje. Za kraj bih samo naveo kako ne smatram ovo djelo teško čitljivim, koliko zahtjevnim, kada je u pitanju strpljivost, a ne čitateljeva izdržljivost (ja sam čitao jedno poglavlje po danu kroz dva tjedna radi boljeg razumijevanja tijeka radnje) i najbolje bih ga usporedio sa ''Idiotom'' od Dostojevskog, u smislu da bi se, s vremenom, dojam mogao promijeniti prema višoj ocjeni.
WhenI've first read this book 11 years ago, my opinion about it was disappointing, because of it's lenght, which was ruined by synopsis from a guide book (it wasn't part of homework during school), with a too much of a focus on everyday life of a lead protagonist and confusion between his inner thought and conversations with other people. Now, 11 years later, when I read again ''The Cyclop'' and watched a film adaptation by Antun Vrdoljak, my thought has changed towards the better, although I still have issues with it's length. However, what this work has lost in it's content and it's width, it compensated with a depth of a human's soul, filled with terror and fear, which Joseph Conrad with his ''Heart of Darkness'' nor William Golding with his ''The Lord of the Flies'' wouldn't be ashamed of. Although thematically closer to Hemingway, the motives and surrounding are terrifying and much more comparable with the first two mentioned authors, although the character of Polyphemus never seemed to me like something on a global scale (when compared with other creatures from Homer's poem, but, of course, it's the free interpretation), as much as individual, isolated from society and without morals, except his own ego. The film version is faithful to the original, but it lacks inner monologues, because the words ''cyclop'' and Polyphemus aren't mentioned at all during it's 2 hour length, which makes the title losing it's meaning, unless a person hasn't read the book already, to understand Melkior's behavior. I would just mention at the end that I don't think that this work is so hard to read, as much as it's challenging, when patience is concerned, rather than reader's stamina (I've read one chapter per day during two weeks for the better understanding of a plot) and I would best compared it with ''The Idiot'' by Dostoyevsky, in a sense that, with time, my thought might change for a higher rate.
Kada sam prvi put čitao ovu knjigu prije 11 godina, dojam mi je bio razočaravajuć, zbog opsega romana, upropaštenog sažecima iz priručnika za lektiru (nap. nisam imao ovaj roman za lektiru), uz prenaglašenu svakodnevicu glavnog lika i konfuziju između unutarnjih misli i njegova razgovora sa drugim ljudima. Sada, 11 godina kasnije, kada sam ponovno pročitao ''Kiklopa'' i pogledao filmsku adaptaciju Antuna Vrdoljaka, dojam mi se promjenio u pozitivnom smislu, premda i dalje imam problema sa opsegom knjige. Međutim, što je djelo gubilo u sadržaju i njegovoj širini, nadomjestilo je dubinom čovjekove duše, ispunjene grozotom i strahom, kojega se ne bi postidjeli ni Joseph Conrad sa ''Srcem tame'' ni William Golding sa ''Gospodarem muha''. Iako je tematikom bliži Hemingway-u, motivi i atmosfera u knjizi su zastrašujući i prije bih ovo djelo uspoređivao sa prvom dvojicom autora, premda mi sam lik Polifema nikada nije bio aluzija na nešto globalnog karaktera (ništa više od drugih bića iz Homerova epa, ali, jasno, riječ je o slobodnom izražavanju), koliko pojedinca, izoliranog od društva i bez ikakva morala, osim vlastitog ega. Filmska verzija je vjerna originalu, ali joj nedostaje unutarnjih monologa jer se riječi ''kiklop'' i ''Polifem'' ne spominju ni jednom u trajanju od otprilike 2 sata, čime sam naslov gubi smisao, osim ako osoba nije čitala knjigu, da bi shvatila Melkiorovo čudno ponašanje. Za kraj bih samo naveo kako ne smatram ovo djelo teško čitljivim, koliko zahtjevnim, kada je u pitanju strpljivost, a ne čitateljeva izdržljivost (ja sam čitao jedno poglavlje po danu kroz dva tjedna radi boljeg razumijevanja tijeka radnje) i najbolje bih ga usporedio sa ''Idiotom'' od Dostojevskog, u smislu da bi se, s vremenom, dojam mogao promijeniti prema višoj ocjeni.
WhenI've first read this book 11 years ago, my opinion about it was disappointing, because of it's lenght, which was ruined by synopsis from a guide book (it wasn't part of homework during school), with a too much of a focus on everyday life of a lead protagonist and confusion between his inner thought and conversations with other people. Now, 11 years later, when I read again ''The Cyclop'' and watched a film adaptation by Antun Vrdoljak, my thought has changed towards the better, although I still have issues with it's length. However, what this work has lost in it's content and it's width, it compensated with a depth of a human's soul, filled with terror and fear, which Joseph Conrad with his ''Heart of Darkness'' nor William Golding with his ''The Lord of the Flies'' wouldn't be ashamed of. Although thematically closer to Hemingway, the motives and surrounding are terrifying and much more comparable with the first two mentioned authors, although the character of Polyphemus never seemed to me like something on a global scale (when compared with other creatures from Homer's poem, but, of course, it's the free interpretation), as much as individual, isolated from society and without morals, except his own ego. The film version is faithful to the original, but it lacks inner monologues, because the words ''cyclop'' and Polyphemus aren't mentioned at all during it's 2 hour length, which makes the title losing it's meaning, unless a person hasn't read the book already, to understand Melkior's behavior. I would just mention at the end that I don't think that this work is so hard to read, as much as it's challenging, when patience is concerned, rather than reader's stamina (I've read one chapter per day during two weeks for the better understanding of a plot) and I would best compared it with ''The Idiot'' by Dostoyevsky, in a sense that, with time, my thought might change for a higher rate.
January 22, 2021
Podsjeća me na "Čarobni brijeg" Thomasa Manna.
April 24, 2016
bilješke tijekom čitanja jer mi se neda na papir pisati
10.02.
moj koji kurac???
ide ulicom, vidi svećenika don Kuzona, prisjeća se nekog lopova (Cviker) prica s starcem kojo se boji rata aka "fuck u rat i nacisti on je samo vozač", frend Ugo radi show na ulici (he is cool, probs on drugs) i prvi put se ide vagati??? važno za kasnije
16.02.
- Melkior oso u birtiju DIJADEM i tam se našao sa svojim Squad
- tam je neki Fred glumac koji misli da je neki hot shit but really hes just shit
- guzi se okolo (Fred)
- bro Ugo mu pokazuje kako se zabravo glumi i ismijava ga aka u got burned by Ugo bitch
- Melkior i Maestro (drugi bro) imaju intelektualne razgovore o nekom mrtvom kritičaru koji je bio ubijen zbog svoje well kritike
- Melkior hella scared coz Melkior kritičar
- Maestro samo želi ženu i malo mira
- ali umjesto toga he got the Squad
- maestro also very smart, what a nerd
- don Fernando idk zapravo who he is ali vjv važan kasnije
- sassy Melkior bruh "To je samo njegova faca"
- Fernando what the hell bruh? jel bilo sve Oke na 3 i pol sekunde i ona ti moraš bacati vino po ljudima?? not cool
- Ugo bro what u doing why u kiss her??? ugh
- FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT (Ugo & Fred)
- Oke nista od fighta za sada, možda kasnije
- zašto pljujes ljudima u facu Frede???
- sad sam 100% sigurna da su svi napušteni jer what the fuck?
- Melkior ako ti se piša idi pišati!!!
- Gospon bro Maestro ide nešto citirati (dva čokanjčića ljuto govore "Tame") WTF?
-wow Oke to je bilo nice
- i naravno da Melkioru nije, assbutt
- sad ga malo Ugo zajebava jel je zacopan u Vivian
- i sad se opet svađaju/sale/napušeni su
- Maestro je hella nice, potiče studenta na znanje
- i sada student bježi jer misli da mu se rugaju, nice
- Ugh Ugo sta to radiš? malo manje alkohola?
- i sad Melkior bježi/ide dalje jer ga je Ugo izivcirao
- Ugo u little shit
- Maestro is my spirit animal
"Vi ste, Ugo, ipak samo ugo-dan, da ne kažem bogodan, glupan"
22.02.
- opis neke sobe valjda, ali ne kužim šta sad on to opisuje, osim da je neka zlatokosa?
- valjda je u bolnici??
- opisuje kako su idioti zapravo lukavi jer su idioti - povijest ubija prvo pametne
- okay so ovo su mu misli dok ide doma, opisuje neko mučenje samoga sebe?? i malu zalogajnicu/bistro/restoran/ Ugodan Kutić
-amm i dont knnow??? prica sa kurtom o necemu i starac prica o necemu i boli me glava
- everyone is obviously high cause i dont understand anything
- prica jako puno o ljudozderima???? why????
- jos nepotrebnih opisa
- surprise surprise i understand nothing! sta to on opisuje? zasto???
- melkior ima cudnu glavu i cudne misli
- dolazi susjed adam-ATMA, mislim da je i on lud
- ATMA is into the zodiac and astrology cool
- da melkior i ja se pitam sta sve ovo znaci
- ATMA je zapravo zanimljiv, mislim kill him pls but zanimljiviji od melkiora
- oh i get it, they are frenemies, ajd sad ce tracati svakoga koga se sjete
- ŠONJO!! new fav word
- svi vole vivijanu she a hoe
- pocinje se kuziti da se melkior namjero izgladnjava, ali jos uvijek tesko za pratiti
- dubokoumi citati o smrti
- melkior o hrkanju: "A ovo je uživalac, brate moj, ovo hrče za svih pet kontinenata svijeta, golemo, egzemplarno, izazovno"
- prvi put se spominje kiklop Polifem, nisam sigurna u kojem kontekstu - vezano uz hrkanje
- am oke ne kužim šta se događa trenutno? netko je hrkao i oni su mislili da je to div(susjedi)
- ATMA melkior is done with ur shit
- ah so on je sanjao/zamisljao/ he high ovo o hrkanju i drami u hodniku
- Ugo the bro posjetio ga da mu kaze pijan: i got laid bro
- oke ovaj kraj uopce vise nema smisla, kakve kosoki koji kurac stari moj ja nemogu vise ovo citati
24.02,
- kako prekrasan pocetak poglavlja: cudan san o Penelopinom minijaturnom penisu
- ah moj najdrazi lik se vratio, dragi Maestro
- Ugo got his ass beat
- nova riječ dana"krakatau"(it a dick)
- Melkior u little shit he ur bro, nemoj se smijati
- ali ja zelim znat vivijanino ime
- ovaj Maestro jestvarno dubokoumon, malo se i izgubis u njegovim monolozima
- Maestro and his aestetics
- "iskusit če to vaša presvjetla guza" oke ovo bez konteksta me brine
- melkior has a side hoe? enka
- and she has a husband
- Enka stvarno ima problem, voli muza voli melkiora i ide od cold bitch do brizne zene u 0.0009 sekundi
- melkior zavrsio u javnom wcu i susreo ugovog tatu isto je malo lud
- ugi u melkior se malo druze, ostalo: ugov tata is a lying cheat pass it on
- melkior se opet brine o svojoj tezini, dobio je kile umjesto izgubio
- melikor zavrsio na caju s ATMOM i Vivijanom
- oni su si best hoes
- nadimci melkor-eustahije ugo-parampion maestro-tersit
- ATMA a lying ass face
18.04. (nastavlja se D:)
-Dugo opisivanje Melkiorovog romana/drame, ono sta je pričao o ljudožderima (se above): uglavnom skupina mornara je završila na otoku i sada ce ih pojesti ljudožderi, i nepovezani s time jos dogadaj kako su ljudi mili(lik kaže da su svi ljudi dobri) i jedno ostavno pismo/oporuka za ženu (nije izjasnjeno koju)
- back to reality: Ugo nalazi Melkiora kako je zamišljen o svojim ljudozderima
- Ugo bio na večeri s roditeljima i don Kuzmon
- čini mi se da Ući i Melkior imaju redovne razgovore o poeziji
- what nerds, sami je pišu
- Ugo opet želi osvojiti Vivijanu (here we go again)
- true friendshi kada svog broa Zoveš "preslatki" (Ugo Melkiora)
- Ugo je očajan za dobrom poezijom, coz u know chicks dig poetry
- kada si gladan si bezobrazan, exibit a: Melkior
- but really, Melkior i Ugo su stvarno dobri prijatelji, barem zasada, čini mi se da bezobziran na melkiorove ispade Ugo pokušava biti chill za oboje
- "Druge Žene" ili "Don Juanova jahanja", priručni roman za naivne žene (mislim da je Kiklop parodija na sve)
- Oke bilo je smiješno and now its not, ovo je zapravo priručnik kako se suočiti sa svim sranjima iz života u nadi da ce te muž spasiti wow
- "Bit cu kralj vivijanski, [...] mrtvac balkanski. Hura!"
- can i quote everything?
- new way to end conversatio: zabi glavu u jastuk i idi spavati, thanks Melkior
- opet u melkiorovoj glavi: VIVIJANA
- probudio se, gladan je (?) i ide kod Kurta u bistro
- pričaju o ratu u bistrou, melkioru sigurno nije ugodno
- od gladi bas ne razmišlja najbolje
- dobio bečki i sada se guši u njemu
- Melkior opet razmišlja k svom AUu i get u dude
- najeo se i sada ide dalje u pustolovinu
- 1000 riječno objašnjenje sta je je sutra
- i sada je Melkior metaforički crv
- kratko se susreo s Maestrom
- traži ga stari trend Puba
- frend želi da neki lik orespava kod Melkiora par dana
- amm Melkior upoznaje čovjeka invalida, koji želi prisluškivati kako ga žena vara - smatra da je to isto kao kada se on uzbudi od glazbe
- i sad je u zoološkom, fun
- MELKIORE BUDALO GLUPA MAKNI SE SA TRACNICE
- kako on to casually, "ja? lud? pfff sam volim tak stajati pred tramvajima dok me ne pokupe"
24.04.
- znaci nije mi se dalo zasebne natuknice so u pokušat cu sto kraće napisati sta se sve desilo and oh boy here we go
- DAKLE.
Melkior je otišao na posao napokon i tamo je bio jedno 15 min jer fuck this job im a poet, i tamo je susreo onog svog frenda don Fernanda koji je htio objaviti svoj članak no redatelj to nije dopustio. Melkior ga ide otpratiti van i započne razgovor o pravednosti i sl s donom F i naravno neprimjetno izade s posla, jako puno quotova i cak je zanimljivo o tome
VAZNO: Don F misli da se 'zli ljudi trebaju odmah ubiti jer se to vidi u njihovim ocima, dok Melkior smatra da onda zapravo nitko nema pravo suditi tko 'zlobno' izgleda
Uglavnom rastane se s Donom F i nastavlja šetnju i koga susreće? Vivijanu ofc, znam znam uopće nije bilo očito. ugl on joj se pridruži u shopping koji i nije bio shopping koliko i pokušaj da Vivi nade nešto sta joj se svira
Spoiler: nije nista našla
Melkior zbog razloga poznatih samo njemu napušta vivijnu da i ide dalje u svijet te usput susreće Uga i ATMU, koji mu trenutno nisu bas i najdraži ljudi
Side note: Melkior ima neku vrstu bipolarne bolesti jer ga drugačije nikad neću shvatiti
u principu tako završava poglavlje ali naravno par puta razmišlja o svojem Ljudožderi AU, ali osim toga nista drugo
- next chapter fam
- tu se bas i nije neš specijal desilo. Melkior almost got in a fight ali ga je Ugo spasio, surprise surprise, i onda su se oni posvadali i pomirili (bros 4ever) osim toga bilo je još malo o ljudožderima, onaj lik koji je trebao prespavati kod Melkiora? e s njim je malo pričao ali nista ore zanimljivo osim sta mu se nezna ime, bio je još jedan jako dugačak monolog, ali je stvarno bio lit like wow give me moree pls i vrhunac Melkior je napokon dobio poziv za vojsku!
"A nitkov s time i računa, da ćemo suditi po sebi, da nećemo posumnjati. Ali valja sumnjati po njemu."
- "treba sve te nejednake staviti pod nadzor, nejednake ruke [...] sve ispod metra i 65."
-"Htio sam reci da strah zavarava vašu maštu."
- "Sve ima đavla. Na nama i u nama."
NEW
- Melkior je napokon završio u vojski, nista se zapravo važno ne dešava osim sta se već prvi dan onesvijestio, našao si je novog broa Kreleta, naučio je kako se treba snaći u sumi i završio je u bolnici i zaljubio se u bolničarki Anku, so yeah nothing important.
10.02.
moj koji kurac???
ide ulicom, vidi svećenika don Kuzona, prisjeća se nekog lopova (Cviker) prica s starcem kojo se boji rata aka "fuck u rat i nacisti on je samo vozač", frend Ugo radi show na ulici (he is cool, probs on drugs) i prvi put se ide vagati??? važno za kasnije
16.02.
- Melkior oso u birtiju DIJADEM i tam se našao sa svojim Squad
- tam je neki Fred glumac koji misli da je neki hot shit but really hes just shit
- guzi se okolo (Fred)
- bro Ugo mu pokazuje kako se zabravo glumi i ismijava ga aka u got burned by Ugo bitch
- Melkior i Maestro (drugi bro) imaju intelektualne razgovore o nekom mrtvom kritičaru koji je bio ubijen zbog svoje well kritike
- Melkior hella scared coz Melkior kritičar
- Maestro samo želi ženu i malo mira
- ali umjesto toga he got the Squad
- maestro also very smart, what a nerd
- don Fernando idk zapravo who he is ali vjv važan kasnije
- sassy Melkior bruh "To je samo njegova faca"
- Fernando what the hell bruh? jel bilo sve Oke na 3 i pol sekunde i ona ti moraš bacati vino po ljudima?? not cool
- Ugo bro what u doing why u kiss her??? ugh
- FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT (Ugo & Fred)
- Oke nista od fighta za sada, možda kasnije
- zašto pljujes ljudima u facu Frede???
- sad sam 100% sigurna da su svi napušteni jer what the fuck?
- Melkior ako ti se piša idi pišati!!!
- Gospon bro Maestro ide nešto citirati (dva čokanjčića ljuto govore "Tame") WTF?
-wow Oke to je bilo nice
- i naravno da Melkioru nije, assbutt
- sad ga malo Ugo zajebava jel je zacopan u Vivian
- i sad se opet svađaju/sale/napušeni su
- Maestro je hella nice, potiče studenta na znanje
- i sada student bježi jer misli da mu se rugaju, nice
- Ugh Ugo sta to radiš? malo manje alkohola?
- i sad Melkior bježi/ide dalje jer ga je Ugo izivcirao
- Ugo u little shit
- Maestro is my spirit animal
"Vi ste, Ugo, ipak samo ugo-dan, da ne kažem bogodan, glupan"
22.02.
- opis neke sobe valjda, ali ne kužim šta sad on to opisuje, osim da je neka zlatokosa?
- valjda je u bolnici??
- opisuje kako su idioti zapravo lukavi jer su idioti - povijest ubija prvo pametne
- okay so ovo su mu misli dok ide doma, opisuje neko mučenje samoga sebe?? i malu zalogajnicu/bistro/restoran/ Ugodan Kutić
-amm i dont knnow??? prica sa kurtom o necemu i starac prica o necemu i boli me glava
- everyone is obviously high cause i dont understand anything
- prica jako puno o ljudozderima???? why????
- jos nepotrebnih opisa
- surprise surprise i understand nothing! sta to on opisuje? zasto???
- melkior ima cudnu glavu i cudne misli
- dolazi susjed adam-ATMA, mislim da je i on lud
- ATMA is into the zodiac and astrology cool
- da melkior i ja se pitam sta sve ovo znaci
- ATMA je zapravo zanimljiv, mislim kill him pls but zanimljiviji od melkiora
- oh i get it, they are frenemies, ajd sad ce tracati svakoga koga se sjete
- ŠONJO!! new fav word
- svi vole vivijanu she a hoe
- pocinje se kuziti da se melkior namjero izgladnjava, ali jos uvijek tesko za pratiti
- dubokoumi citati o smrti
- melkior o hrkanju: "A ovo je uživalac, brate moj, ovo hrče za svih pet kontinenata svijeta, golemo, egzemplarno, izazovno"
- prvi put se spominje kiklop Polifem, nisam sigurna u kojem kontekstu - vezano uz hrkanje
- am oke ne kužim šta se događa trenutno? netko je hrkao i oni su mislili da je to div(susjedi)
- ATMA melkior is done with ur shit
- ah so on je sanjao/zamisljao/ he high ovo o hrkanju i drami u hodniku
- Ugo the bro posjetio ga da mu kaze pijan: i got laid bro
- oke ovaj kraj uopce vise nema smisla, kakve kosoki koji kurac stari moj ja nemogu vise ovo citati
24.02,
- kako prekrasan pocetak poglavlja: cudan san o Penelopinom minijaturnom penisu
- ah moj najdrazi lik se vratio, dragi Maestro
- Ugo got his ass beat
- nova riječ dana"krakatau"(it a dick)
- Melkior u little shit he ur bro, nemoj se smijati
- ali ja zelim znat vivijanino ime
- ovaj Maestro jestvarno dubokoumon, malo se i izgubis u njegovim monolozima
- Maestro and his aestetics
- "iskusit če to vaša presvjetla guza" oke ovo bez konteksta me brine
- melkior has a side hoe? enka
- and she has a husband
- Enka stvarno ima problem, voli muza voli melkiora i ide od cold bitch do brizne zene u 0.0009 sekundi
- melkior zavrsio u javnom wcu i susreo ugovog tatu isto je malo lud
- ugi u melkior se malo druze, ostalo: ugov tata is a lying cheat pass it on
- melkior se opet brine o svojoj tezini, dobio je kile umjesto izgubio
- melikor zavrsio na caju s ATMOM i Vivijanom
- oni su si best hoes
- nadimci melkor-eustahije ugo-parampion maestro-tersit
- ATMA a lying ass face
18.04. (nastavlja se D:)
-Dugo opisivanje Melkiorovog romana/drame, ono sta je pričao o ljudožderima (se above): uglavnom skupina mornara je završila na otoku i sada ce ih pojesti ljudožderi, i nepovezani s time jos dogadaj kako su ljudi mili(lik kaže da su svi ljudi dobri) i jedno ostavno pismo/oporuka za ženu (nije izjasnjeno koju)
- back to reality: Ugo nalazi Melkiora kako je zamišljen o svojim ljudozderima
- Ugo bio na večeri s roditeljima i don Kuzmon
- čini mi se da Ući i Melkior imaju redovne razgovore o poeziji
- what nerds, sami je pišu
- Ugo opet želi osvojiti Vivijanu (here we go again)
- true friendshi kada svog broa Zoveš "preslatki" (Ugo Melkiora)
- Ugo je očajan za dobrom poezijom, coz u know chicks dig poetry
- kada si gladan si bezobrazan, exibit a: Melkior
- but really, Melkior i Ugo su stvarno dobri prijatelji, barem zasada, čini mi se da bezobziran na melkiorove ispade Ugo pokušava biti chill za oboje
- "Druge Žene" ili "Don Juanova jahanja", priručni roman za naivne žene (mislim da je Kiklop parodija na sve)
- Oke bilo je smiješno and now its not, ovo je zapravo priručnik kako se suočiti sa svim sranjima iz života u nadi da ce te muž spasiti wow
- "Bit cu kralj vivijanski, [...] mrtvac balkanski. Hura!"
- can i quote everything?
- new way to end conversatio: zabi glavu u jastuk i idi spavati, thanks Melkior
- opet u melkiorovoj glavi: VIVIJANA
- probudio se, gladan je (?) i ide kod Kurta u bistro
- pričaju o ratu u bistrou, melkioru sigurno nije ugodno
- od gladi bas ne razmišlja najbolje
- dobio bečki i sada se guši u njemu
- Melkior opet razmišlja k svom AUu i get u dude
- najeo se i sada ide dalje u pustolovinu
- 1000 riječno objašnjenje sta je je sutra
- i sada je Melkior metaforički crv
- kratko se susreo s Maestrom
- traži ga stari trend Puba
- frend želi da neki lik orespava kod Melkiora par dana
- amm Melkior upoznaje čovjeka invalida, koji želi prisluškivati kako ga žena vara - smatra da je to isto kao kada se on uzbudi od glazbe
- i sad je u zoološkom, fun
- MELKIORE BUDALO GLUPA MAKNI SE SA TRACNICE
- kako on to casually, "ja? lud? pfff sam volim tak stajati pred tramvajima dok me ne pokupe"
24.04.
- znaci nije mi se dalo zasebne natuknice so u pokušat cu sto kraće napisati sta se sve desilo and oh boy here we go
- DAKLE.
Melkior je otišao na posao napokon i tamo je bio jedno 15 min jer fuck this job im a poet, i tamo je susreo onog svog frenda don Fernanda koji je htio objaviti svoj članak no redatelj to nije dopustio. Melkior ga ide otpratiti van i započne razgovor o pravednosti i sl s donom F i naravno neprimjetno izade s posla, jako puno quotova i cak je zanimljivo o tome
VAZNO: Don F misli da se 'zli ljudi trebaju odmah ubiti jer se to vidi u njihovim ocima, dok Melkior smatra da onda zapravo nitko nema pravo suditi tko 'zlobno' izgleda
Uglavnom rastane se s Donom F i nastavlja šetnju i koga susreće? Vivijanu ofc, znam znam uopće nije bilo očito. ugl on joj se pridruži u shopping koji i nije bio shopping koliko i pokušaj da Vivi nade nešto sta joj se svira
Spoiler: nije nista našla
Melkior zbog razloga poznatih samo njemu napušta vivijnu da i ide dalje u svijet te usput susreće Uga i ATMU, koji mu trenutno nisu bas i najdraži ljudi
Side note: Melkior ima neku vrstu bipolarne bolesti jer ga drugačije nikad neću shvatiti
u principu tako završava poglavlje ali naravno par puta razmišlja o svojem Ljudožderi AU, ali osim toga nista drugo
- next chapter fam
- tu se bas i nije neš specijal desilo. Melkior almost got in a fight ali ga je Ugo spasio, surprise surprise, i onda su se oni posvadali i pomirili (bros 4ever) osim toga bilo je još malo o ljudožderima, onaj lik koji je trebao prespavati kod Melkiora? e s njim je malo pričao ali nista ore zanimljivo osim sta mu se nezna ime, bio je još jedan jako dugačak monolog, ali je stvarno bio lit like wow give me moree pls i vrhunac Melkior je napokon dobio poziv za vojsku!
"A nitkov s time i računa, da ćemo suditi po sebi, da nećemo posumnjati. Ali valja sumnjati po njemu."
- "treba sve te nejednake staviti pod nadzor, nejednake ruke [...] sve ispod metra i 65."
-"Htio sam reci da strah zavarava vašu maštu."
- "Sve ima đavla. Na nama i u nama."
NEW
- Melkior je napokon završio u vojski, nista se zapravo važno ne dešava osim sta se već prvi dan onesvijestio, našao si je novog broa Kreleta, naučio je kako se treba snaći u sumi i završio je u bolnici i zaljubio se u bolničarki Anku, so yeah nothing important.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 26, 2022
Ako kažem išta loše o ovom djelu, Polifem će me proždrijeti.
April 7, 2025
theory of preventive dehumanization
April 15, 2017
Radnja ovog romana smještena je pred sam dolazak II Svjetskog rata na ove prostore, a u središtu je egzistencijalna drama Melkiora Tresića, zagrebačkog književnika i književnog kritičara. Kako bi izbjegao vojsku on se osuđuje na izgladnjivanje i lutanje po zagrebačkim ulicama i kavanama. Tu uglavnom razmišlja o svojoj sudbini, svjedoči dolasku rata i vodi intelektualne diskusije sa Maestrom, Ugom i Don Fernandom. Ipak, dobiva poziv za vojsku, a ubrzo nakon toga dospijeva u ludnicu.
Fabula romana mogla bi se prepričati u svega nekoliko rečenica. Ono što ovaj roman čini jednim od najboljih djela novije hrvatske književnosti jeste intertekstualnost, odnosno referiranje na neka djela svjetske književnosti, propitivanje identiteta u tim predratnim godinama i paranoje sa kojima se bori glavni lik Melkior. Roman je sazdan od fragmenata pa je tako prvo ili uvodno poglavlje ustvari pripovijetka koja je uvrštena u njegovu novelističku zbirku Ruke.
Posebno me se dojmila teorija o tzv.preventivnoj dehumanizaciji koju iznosi Don Fernando i opis Zagreba tih godina - ili Zoopolisa kako ga Marinković naziva i opisuje. Pretvaranje ljudi u životinje, a dolazak rata kao mitsko biće Kiklop koje proždire sve pred sobom.
Fabula romana mogla bi se prepričati u svega nekoliko rečenica. Ono što ovaj roman čini jednim od najboljih djela novije hrvatske književnosti jeste intertekstualnost, odnosno referiranje na neka djela svjetske književnosti, propitivanje identiteta u tim predratnim godinama i paranoje sa kojima se bori glavni lik Melkior. Roman je sazdan od fragmenata pa je tako prvo ili uvodno poglavlje ustvari pripovijetka koja je uvrštena u njegovu novelističku zbirku Ruke.
Posebno me se dojmila teorija o tzv.preventivnoj dehumanizaciji koju iznosi Don Fernando i opis Zagreba tih godina - ili Zoopolisa kako ga Marinković naziva i opisuje. Pretvaranje ljudi u životinje, a dolazak rata kao mitsko biće Kiklop koje proždire sve pred sobom.
August 18, 2011
i had a lot to say about this book when i finished it 3 weeks ago but then i didn't log onto this site and forgot what i was going to type because i'm fat stupid and short of breath. sort of reminded my of celine i guess, but also other stuff. anyway if you're interested in european modernism then "czech" this out. haha, he's really a croat tho.
April 26, 2022
Dvica samo zbog covjeka bez nogu koji je rekao
"Samo me baci tu iza vrata"
"Samo me baci tu iza vrata"
February 16, 2022
One of the best novels you'll probably never read. Dark humor at World's End. My summation in five words.
Ah, but of course you'll find much more beneath and beyond the polyphemic gaze. The war hasn't yet reached Zagreb in early 1941 when theater critic and self-ascribed intellectual Melkior Tresić, protagonist and anti-hero, enacts his plan to evade conscription – starvation. For what good to the brutal military machine is a willowy, emaciated, hallucinating writer?
How to conceal one's existence, steal from the world one's traitorous body, take it off to some endless isolation, conceal it in a cocoon of fear, insinuate oneself into temporary death? [19]
Though it takes numerous metaphorical forms in the novel, the Cyclops IS the coming war. It takes men and chews them up, and so it is Polyphemus, Son of Poseidon, the greatest of the Cyclops, whom Ulyssean Melkior and his band of Giventakians, drinking and philosophyzing at their favorite haunt, the Give'n Take, must evade by whatever means.
Another drunken night, smoke and antics, he thought with a touch of malice. Where's it all going to end? But Maestro was already wheezing in a cloud of smoke – “Ah, at last, here comes Eustashius the Sagacious!” – and Ugo was rushing up to meet him and showering kisses on both cheeks, one of them planted on the eyebrow “for the pure mind.” The entire bar had to hear that Eustashius had returned from his splendid isolation.
For five-hundred plus pages we follow Melkior in and around Zagreb, in and out of hallucinatory states, dreamstates, bizarre fantasies, and countless inglorious priapic excapades with his group of drunks, vagrants, and altogether bizarre characters, intellectuals all, surrounded by a cultured fog of their own imagination, their own mythmaking, casually conversing on Dostoyevsky, Aquinas, Aristotle, Shakespeare, Kant, and Greek Mythology. They rise from their squalor through pursuits of the mind.
I cannot begin to convey the beauty, the humor and strangeness of this novel.
One of my best read of 2021.
Ah, but of course you'll find much more beneath and beyond the polyphemic gaze. The war hasn't yet reached Zagreb in early 1941 when theater critic and self-ascribed intellectual Melkior Tresić, protagonist and anti-hero, enacts his plan to evade conscription – starvation. For what good to the brutal military machine is a willowy, emaciated, hallucinating writer?
How to conceal one's existence, steal from the world one's traitorous body, take it off to some endless isolation, conceal it in a cocoon of fear, insinuate oneself into temporary death? [19]
Though it takes numerous metaphorical forms in the novel, the Cyclops IS the coming war. It takes men and chews them up, and so it is Polyphemus, Son of Poseidon, the greatest of the Cyclops, whom Ulyssean Melkior and his band of Giventakians, drinking and philosophyzing at their favorite haunt, the Give'n Take, must evade by whatever means.
Another drunken night, smoke and antics, he thought with a touch of malice. Where's it all going to end? But Maestro was already wheezing in a cloud of smoke – “Ah, at last, here comes Eustashius the Sagacious!” – and Ugo was rushing up to meet him and showering kisses on both cheeks, one of them planted on the eyebrow “for the pure mind.” The entire bar had to hear that Eustashius had returned from his splendid isolation.
For five-hundred plus pages we follow Melkior in and around Zagreb, in and out of hallucinatory states, dreamstates, bizarre fantasies, and countless inglorious priapic excapades with his group of drunks, vagrants, and altogether bizarre characters, intellectuals all, surrounded by a cultured fog of their own imagination, their own mythmaking, casually conversing on Dostoyevsky, Aquinas, Aristotle, Shakespeare, Kant, and Greek Mythology. They rise from their squalor through pursuits of the mind.
I cannot begin to convey the beauty, the humor and strangeness of this novel.
One of my best read of 2021.
January 10, 2020
(Post)modernistički roman velikog hrvatskog pisca Ranka Marinkovića proglašen je za najveći hrvatski roman ikad napisan. I, valja reći, velik je roman, enorman.
Pisan je korišenjem ogromnog broja različitih književnih stilova (realizam, eksperimentalni roman, simbolizam, esejistika, lirika) i različitih alegorijskih slika. Jednako važna je i neponderabilna količina intertekstualnih elemenata i oruđa (Shakespeare, Homer, Baudelaire, Hugo, Dostojevski, A.B. Šimić, Ujević, Joyce su samo od neka od velikih imena).
Radnja je smještena u boemski ambijent grada Zagreba (Zoopolisa) pred sami dolazak Drugog svjetskog rata (Kiklopa). Taj Kiklop svojim proždiranjem svega pred sobom ništi svaki atom humanosti i prirode.
Jezik romana je iznimno kompleksan, prepun je referenci, a naracija vrvi "skokovima" i fragmentima što čitanje ovog romana stavlja u koš onih, makar meni, sporočitljivih romana. To nipošto ne umanjuje njegovu umjetničku vrijednost i snagu, naprotiv. Roman nam također predstavlja cijelu lepezu iznimno zanimljivih i živopisnih likova.
U njemu se iznose i raznorazne teorije, razmišljanja, strahovi, zanimljivi argumenti i ideje o "ustaljenim stvarima" koje nas okružuju, ali i o onim stvarima koje nam često prolaze "ispod radara" i koje uzimamo zdravo za gotovo što mu daje prekrasni intelektualni plašt poticajnosti.
Budući da je gotovo nemoguće napisati manje, a pogotovo ući dublje u roman bez stranica i stranica, riječi i riječi, koje se o njemu trebaju reći, ja ću se zaustaviti ovdje. Naravno, bez tople preporuke onima koji žele "do daske" akrivirati moždane vijuge i(li) uživati u pravom umjetničkom doživljaju, bogatstvu stila i intelekta nema smisla završiti osvrt, tako da, moju iskrenu preporuku, ako ju želite, imate.
Pisan je korišenjem ogromnog broja različitih književnih stilova (realizam, eksperimentalni roman, simbolizam, esejistika, lirika) i različitih alegorijskih slika. Jednako važna je i neponderabilna količina intertekstualnih elemenata i oruđa (Shakespeare, Homer, Baudelaire, Hugo, Dostojevski, A.B. Šimić, Ujević, Joyce su samo od neka od velikih imena).
Radnja je smještena u boemski ambijent grada Zagreba (Zoopolisa) pred sami dolazak Drugog svjetskog rata (Kiklopa). Taj Kiklop svojim proždiranjem svega pred sobom ništi svaki atom humanosti i prirode.
Jezik romana je iznimno kompleksan, prepun je referenci, a naracija vrvi "skokovima" i fragmentima što čitanje ovog romana stavlja u koš onih, makar meni, sporočitljivih romana. To nipošto ne umanjuje njegovu umjetničku vrijednost i snagu, naprotiv. Roman nam također predstavlja cijelu lepezu iznimno zanimljivih i živopisnih likova.
U njemu se iznose i raznorazne teorije, razmišljanja, strahovi, zanimljivi argumenti i ideje o "ustaljenim stvarima" koje nas okružuju, ali i o onim stvarima koje nam često prolaze "ispod radara" i koje uzimamo zdravo za gotovo što mu daje prekrasni intelektualni plašt poticajnosti.
Budući da je gotovo nemoguće napisati manje, a pogotovo ući dublje u roman bez stranica i stranica, riječi i riječi, koje se o njemu trebaju reći, ja ću se zaustaviti ovdje. Naravno, bez tople preporuke onima koji žele "do daske" akrivirati moždane vijuge i(li) uživati u pravom umjetničkom doživljaju, bogatstvu stila i intelekta nema smisla završiti osvrt, tako da, moju iskrenu preporuku, ako ju želite, imate.
April 21, 2017
Što se obećava? Sreća. Što je sreća? Nitko ne zna što je, svi je žele.
Knjiga ima odličnu filozofsku podlogu (mnogo materijala za zaustaviti čitanje i promilsiti), ali je neopisivo dosadna za čitati, posebno dijalozi između kolega iz redakcije i Melkiroa. A tek kraj... Toliko riječi i rečenica te toliko vremena utrošeno za bijedan kraj. Još jedna razočaravajuća lektira.
Knjiga ima odličnu filozofsku podlogu (mnogo materijala za zaustaviti čitanje i promilsiti), ali je neopisivo dosadna za čitati, posebno dijalozi između kolega iz redakcije i Melkiroa. A tek kraj... Toliko riječi i rečenica te toliko vremena utrošeno za bijedan kraj. Još jedna razočaravajuća lektira.
March 13, 2022
FINALLY!
Never in my life have I been more happy and relieved to finish a book.
Never in my life have I been more happy and relieved to finish a book.
July 14, 2017
I simply could not get into this book.
January 18, 2024
užas.
May 12, 2024
Sve moždane stanice su mi krepale
April 22, 2011
Reflected in the pale glass window, among the shoes on display, was Melkior's thin, unprepossessing silhouette, a poorly built city dweller. The slanting image reflected in the shop window triggered a crafty sneer inside Melkior, and the word mobilization suddenly found itself in autumn mud churned by a squelching olive drab monotony of dejected strangers on some endless trek; there was the bluster of angry sergeants, the tired voice of sodden boots, and the mysterious word "aide-de-camp." Here was born a fear of the new events around him: the driver bound for Apatin to drive a tank...across our mountainous country...Oh for a mountain and a forest in which to go quiet and still like an insect curled deep inside the bark of an indestructible tree: I'm not here...and to live, to live...How to conceal ones existence, steal from the world one's traitorous body, take it off to some endless isolation, conceal it in a cocoon of fear, insinuate oneself into a temporary death?
This is the test of our fair narrator-can Melkior starve himself to avoid being called to military duty in World War II? Filled with literary allusions galore-from Dante to Joyce, Shakespeare to Dosteyvesky-Cyclops is a vertiginous journey into the mind of a tortured man whose mind is unraveling from lack of food and sleep. Published in 1965 and set in the forties of the Former Yugoslavia, Cyclops is Marinkovic's version of literary realism so acute and ego-maniacal there is no escaping for the reader. The reader can only revel in his death defying acts of prose, no small thanks to Vlada Stojiljkovic's amazing translation. This is a classic taught in Croatian schools and with good reason-Marinkovic addresses the threat of human loss and sacrifice in the name of nationalism but also our own detachment from the cost of war when we are not directly involved.
Melkior wanders the streets of Zagreb, lost in his own surreal musings dipped in paranoia. His own interactions with his gaggle of boho friends and his starving dream-states flow into one another until it becomes difficult to know what reality is. As he makes himself the star of the Odyssey and his friends replace Homer's other characters in his hallucinations, the danger of Polyphemus (The Cyclops) looms and threatens to devour them all. The parallels between society's own contradictions about war and Melkior's friends drinking themselves into a stupor(literally and figuratively) on their own intellectual antics shows itself throughout the fast-paced narrative.
Above all, Melkior, a part-time theater critic, and his motley group of friends are poetic cynics who see no hope in anything but their own wittiness and pleasure seeking pastimes as they sit around downing booze at their local bar, the Give 'n Take.. Although this is not an easy book, it's wildly entertaining, full of original characterizations and hilarious, biting prose:
Long live the idiot! That is the safest kind of mimicry life can offer a being of its creation. From his vantage point the idiot watches history run its course without the danger of getting caught up in the action, just as we cry as we watch a film playing in the cinema. We mourn fictitious travails, while it's only an idiot who laughs at genuine deaths. He jeers at life from his safe vantage point, taking his revenge for being rejected, smug at being spared. Life has chosen Intelligence for its games, it does not use idiots to make history. It has chosen geniuses for grand words on the cross, at the guillotine, at the gallows, facing the barrels of guns, in front of nations cheering the Brutuses and Caesars alike. An idiot ceded the cup of poison to Socrates. An idiot ceded to Danton the glory of being decapitated by history. (And then made it up to him by producing a marble bust of his head and raising it on a square as an example for future generations.) Whereas the idiot wears his head with a strange grimace of disgust, as if he had long understood everything, sneered derisively, and stopped time in the rigid folds of his mindless face. Love live the idiot!
There are so many literary allusions that you may wonder if you can possibly have read all the works he throws into his narrative stew. Yet, there is a conscious effort to avoid the reader getting close enough to experience Melkior's fear, instead choosing the have the reader bear witness to his descent into paranoia and isolation.
It's an epic that hangs its hat on pessimism, social commentary, and the personal, societal and philosophical wreckage of war. I couldn't help but think of Celine's work while I read this- in particular, Journey to the End of the Night and Normance-both filled with the same disdain and realism of war. Cyclops doesn't give us the bravery and courage of the stereotyped patriot, but the very human fear of a man lost in his own life and fearful of a fate he knows he can't avoid.
December 20, 2011
Ne znam kada sam se zadnji put toliko namučila da pročitam neku knjigu...umjetnička vrijednost Kiklopa je nepobitna, ali nije mi bio lagan za pročitati. Marinković ostvaruje svoje talente u ovom romanu, obogaćuje riječi značenjem, stvara svijet obojen ironijom, cinizmom, promišljanjem koje je beskompromisno, naglo, uporno...Tragikomedija prerasta često i u nešto sasvim mračno, poraz ljudskog duha i roda. Glavni lik pokušava naći neki smisao i ne uspijeva ili uspijeva tragično. Djelo je ovo koje je lišeno svakog idealizma, ali i nade. Istražuje mračne dijelove ljudskog društva, govori o raznoraznim slabostima. Humor je prisutan i to većinom crn.
Drago mi je da sam pročitala Kiklopa sada, a ne u srednjoj školi jer sumnjam kako bi tada išta shvatila. Možda bi i sada voljela da se mogu ne poistovjetiti sa pesimizmom prisutnim u djelu, ali mogu, jako dobro zapravo, vjerojatno mi ga zato i nije bilo lako čitati. Možda ga pročitam još koji put kada budem sadistički raspoložena. Šalu na stranu, Kiklop zaista obiluje značenjima, konotacijama, aluzijama na način koji se rijetki nađe.
Mislim kako ću ipak više voljeti Marinkovića u kraćim proznim oblicima. Njegove pripovijetke su mi genijalne. Iako su u njima prisutni mnogi slični elementi kao i u Kiklopu, bolje su mi sjele. To je moje osobno mišljenje. Mislim kako se ne radi tu samo o broju stranica. Kiklop mi se čini....jednostavno teškim. Možda nekome neće biti teško čitati tih 400-tinjak stranica, ali meni je bilo. Samo zbog toga jedna zvijezdica manje, inače mislim da se radi o odličnom djelu.
Drago mi je da sam pročitala Kiklopa sada, a ne u srednjoj školi jer sumnjam kako bi tada išta shvatila. Možda bi i sada voljela da se mogu ne poistovjetiti sa pesimizmom prisutnim u djelu, ali mogu, jako dobro zapravo, vjerojatno mi ga zato i nije bilo lako čitati. Možda ga pročitam još koji put kada budem sadistički raspoložena. Šalu na stranu, Kiklop zaista obiluje značenjima, konotacijama, aluzijama na način koji se rijetki nađe.
Mislim kako ću ipak više voljeti Marinkovića u kraćim proznim oblicima. Njegove pripovijetke su mi genijalne. Iako su u njima prisutni mnogi slični elementi kao i u Kiklopu, bolje su mi sjele. To je moje osobno mišljenje. Mislim kako se ne radi tu samo o broju stranica. Kiklop mi se čini....jednostavno teškim. Možda nekome neće biti teško čitati tih 400-tinjak stranica, ali meni je bilo. Samo zbog toga jedna zvijezdica manje, inače mislim da se radi o odličnom djelu.
June 27, 2020
Pred početak drugog svjetskog rata, na prostorima pokojne kraljevine Jugoslavije, intelektualac Melkior Tresić, novinar, proživljava najdublje životne drame. Rat, ta drama per se, u svome besmislu životinjstva (kao ZOOPOLIS) pokazuje svoje ralje još i prije nego je počeo. Melkior, "uzgajajući" svoju asteničku konstituciju dobrovoljnim gladovanjem; želi ishoditi vojnu nesposobnost za nadolazeću mobilizaciju. Sam vojni ustroj u kome se, ipak nađe, za njega je toliko nadrealan da prelazi sve okvire poimanja. S druge strane, poluge tog istog ustroja, najrađe bi nasmrt zatukle takvu profesorsku ništariju kao što je Tresić. U tom stisku Melkior se nada da će pobjeći od Kiklopa Polifema, prije nego ovaj jednooki ljudožder zatvori teškim kamenom jedini postojeći izlaz. Ali to je samo os oko koje se, kao na nekom vještičjem vretenu, namotavaju niti paučine od kojeg se sastoji njegov život u interakciji s drugim protagonistima i antagonistima ovog remek djela. Nenametljiva fabulizacija, a prije svega nestvarno dobri dijalozi i poetičnost pripovijedanja, kao da ubada svoje pero u starogrčku teatrologiju, da bi potom virtuozno prenijelo romansirane dojmove u završno pripovijedanje. Jedan od rijetkih romana koje sam mogao i htio čitati na tanke ili debele kriške, neovisno o trenutku fabulizacije. Kapa dolje!
December 18, 2012
When I was in 1st grade of high school, the older ones were saying to me that this book is so tough to read, and I always thought "Oh my, what's waiting for me?!"#$ Then came my turn to read this book. Honestly,I totally enjoyed since the first page. I used to read so many books about the life during the WW2 in some big cities like Paris, London, etc. but finally I found the first book which place and rime of action were situated in my hometown. I was able to feel all that melancholy and ZOO-polis term and idea on very very familiar places. An author brought all that prewar atmosphere and states of mind of very interesting characters so realistic that I found myself in one awkward moment of weird nostalgia. Which I never felt again in some other book with similar theme. I definitely recommend this book to anyone. It's not easy to read (like reading the book during Sun bathing on the beach), takes a lots of time to thinking, but if I have to summarize this in 1 word - masterpiece!
March 21, 2011
Cyclops was originally published in Croatia. It takes place in Zagreb and could easily be compared to Ulysses, the Odyssey, and even Hamlet. Marinković captures the essence of the crowds, the shysters, and seedy neighborhoods. He dissects Zagreb on the eve of war with the same precision as Joseph Heller’s Catch 22. It is anti-war in sentiment— and was a prelude to similar books like Slaughter House Five, written in the 1960s with WWII as the setting.
March 28, 2020
Prepotentno i prezasićeno književnim i filozofskim referencama kojima autor dokazuje vlastiti intelekt. Unatoč povremenim trenutcima briljantnosti ne bih ga preporučila osim ako se želite pohvaliti da ste pročitali Kiklopa.
April 1, 2024
womp womp (hvala bogu gotovo je)
April 7, 2024
ne znam jesam li završila kiklopa ili on mene
January 12, 2024
"Cyclops" is a badly written modernist novel that is extremely hard for a Canadian like myself to decode politically. Published in 1965, it shares several key elements with James Joyce's "Ulysses" (1922). Both contain a mythic voyage in a single city. Leopold Bloom, the hero of Ulysses is a Jew trying to find a home in Dublin during the decade before WWI. Melkior Tresic, the protagonist of "Cyclops" travels through Zagreb on the eve of WWII trying to avoid being eaten by Polyphemus, the Cyclops, who represents the looming conflict. Markinović informs the reader that Melkior is connected to the Melchior of the New Testament who followed the star to Bethlehem without making it clear what the connection is.
I simply became exasperated by Markinović's purple prose which some reviewers have described as erudite. What Markinović delivers is a scattergun barrage of senseless allusions to countless, unrelated works of literature, music and art. The style is that of a comedy skit in an undergraduate review. For example one dreadful passage set in a house of ill-repute reads as follows:
'"La grande putana.' Boucher's azure-and-pink bare bottoms. Not forgetting Dante - 'donne, ch'avete intelleto d'amore!' or something - the Aristotelian quintessence of the brothel." (p. 121)
Another example of this dreadful style is:
"If only there could be a bit of Petrarch, dolci ire, dolci sdegni et dolci paci. October's gentle breath, oh quelle différence. Apart from permeates, it's all at a Kalisto love level. Oh Cyrano the great, a spark of your wit so that with Roxanne, he can be a big hit." (pp. 181-182)
In other places, the writing is absolutely juvenile. Relating an incident on a street car where a conductor apologizes to a rider who produces his ticket after being accused of having boarded without one, Markinović writes: "Te absolve in nomine tremcar." (i.e. I absolve you in the name of the street car. (p.274) This a parody of the formula used at the end of the Catholic confession prior to the decision of the Vatican to abandon the use of Latin in its rituals. The joke is of the type that teenagers make and does not truly belong in an adult novel.
Markinović is risqué in many places and scatological in other places. He likes to describe farcical encounters in the bedroom and "parabolas" in the bathroom.
My biggest disappointment was that Markinović never makes his political stance clear. According to the translator's introduction Melkior, the protagonist, is the alter ego of Markinović. Melkior in the summer of 1939 is determined to avoid serving in the army of Yugoslavia during the coming war. He manages through great effort to obtain a medical exemption from military service. However, when WWII breaks out on page 517 of 550, he attempts to enrol in the army. The army officer on duty is reluctant to take him. Melkior realizes that he is suspected of being a spy and flees to bring to the novel to a close.
Markinović never did in fact serve in the army of the King of Yugoslavia and rallied to the forces of Tito before the war ended. Markinović went on to have an excellent career in the state theatre and in academia. By 1965, when "Cyclops" was published in 1965, Tito seemed to have succeeded in creating a united and prosperous Yugoslavia. Tito, however, is never mentioned in the novel.
It is understandable that the characters would not have known of Tito at the time the events of the novel took place. Tito's communist organization did not become involved in the war until June 1941 when Germany invaded Russia. Tito in fact operated in clandestine fashion right to the end of WWII. However, it is still hard to understand how in a long novel about the outbreak of WWII, no mention is ever made of Tito and the communist option for Yugoslavia.
Similarly, there is no foreshadowing of the civil war that would take place in Yugoslavia involving amongst others Serbian Royalists, the Tchetniks, Croatian nationalist, the Ustase and communist partisans. Again, the characters in "Cyclops" would not have known of the horrors that were to come, but Markinović on the subject is still surprising.
Ultimately, Markinović lost faith in Yugoslavia. He was a very early supporter of Franjo Tudman and an independent Croatia. Nonetheless, I have no idea from "Cyclops" what Markinović thought about Yugoslavian politics at the outset of WWII or at the time wrote his novel. Reading the book was simply a very frustrating experience for me.
I simply became exasperated by Markinović's purple prose which some reviewers have described as erudite. What Markinović delivers is a scattergun barrage of senseless allusions to countless, unrelated works of literature, music and art. The style is that of a comedy skit in an undergraduate review. For example one dreadful passage set in a house of ill-repute reads as follows:
'"La grande putana.' Boucher's azure-and-pink bare bottoms. Not forgetting Dante - 'donne, ch'avete intelleto d'amore!' or something - the Aristotelian quintessence of the brothel." (p. 121)
Another example of this dreadful style is:
"If only there could be a bit of Petrarch, dolci ire, dolci sdegni et dolci paci. October's gentle breath, oh quelle différence. Apart from permeates, it's all at a Kalisto love level. Oh Cyrano the great, a spark of your wit so that with Roxanne, he can be a big hit." (pp. 181-182)
In other places, the writing is absolutely juvenile. Relating an incident on a street car where a conductor apologizes to a rider who produces his ticket after being accused of having boarded without one, Markinović writes: "Te absolve in nomine tremcar." (i.e. I absolve you in the name of the street car. (p.274) This a parody of the formula used at the end of the Catholic confession prior to the decision of the Vatican to abandon the use of Latin in its rituals. The joke is of the type that teenagers make and does not truly belong in an adult novel.
Markinović is risqué in many places and scatological in other places. He likes to describe farcical encounters in the bedroom and "parabolas" in the bathroom.
My biggest disappointment was that Markinović never makes his political stance clear. According to the translator's introduction Melkior, the protagonist, is the alter ego of Markinović. Melkior in the summer of 1939 is determined to avoid serving in the army of Yugoslavia during the coming war. He manages through great effort to obtain a medical exemption from military service. However, when WWII breaks out on page 517 of 550, he attempts to enrol in the army. The army officer on duty is reluctant to take him. Melkior realizes that he is suspected of being a spy and flees to bring to the novel to a close.
Markinović never did in fact serve in the army of the King of Yugoslavia and rallied to the forces of Tito before the war ended. Markinović went on to have an excellent career in the state theatre and in academia. By 1965, when "Cyclops" was published in 1965, Tito seemed to have succeeded in creating a united and prosperous Yugoslavia. Tito, however, is never mentioned in the novel.
It is understandable that the characters would not have known of Tito at the time the events of the novel took place. Tito's communist organization did not become involved in the war until June 1941 when Germany invaded Russia. Tito in fact operated in clandestine fashion right to the end of WWII. However, it is still hard to understand how in a long novel about the outbreak of WWII, no mention is ever made of Tito and the communist option for Yugoslavia.
Similarly, there is no foreshadowing of the civil war that would take place in Yugoslavia involving amongst others Serbian Royalists, the Tchetniks, Croatian nationalist, the Ustase and communist partisans. Again, the characters in "Cyclops" would not have known of the horrors that were to come, but Markinović on the subject is still surprising.
Ultimately, Markinović lost faith in Yugoslavia. He was a very early supporter of Franjo Tudman and an independent Croatia. Nonetheless, I have no idea from "Cyclops" what Markinović thought about Yugoslavian politics at the outset of WWII or at the time wrote his novel. Reading the book was simply a very frustrating experience for me.
July 19, 2018
"Válku není vidět". Okolo Kyklopa som chodil roky. Kedysi dávno som ho začal čítať, no odložil som ho, lebo úvod nečítajte ak nemáte čas a náladu na hranie sa so slovami. Ten úvod je však predzvesťou toho, čo príde. Opulentná hostina jazyka s ostrou príchuťou rakije na jeho š pičke.. Protivojnový román. Švejk skrížený z Alexanderplatzom. Úryvky z novín, obsedantne absurdné státie na rohoch kaviarní a prešľapovanie z nohy na nohu na spoplatnenej váhe invalida.
Magický, všemocný ATMA.Nech je to ktokoľvek. Náš Pán,či sama Pani Vojna, či Život sám a osamelý, ktorý cynicky komentuje nesmelé otázky hlavného hrdinu.Melkior hladuje,hlodá,nespí, nikam nepatrí a túla sa Záhrebom, hľadá spôsob ako sa vyhnúť vojenskej službe, keď aj tak Vojna dýcha spoza rohov kľukatých uličiek. Nezanedbá žiadny kút, nikoho, kto svetom kráča.
Pitoreskný labyrint z postáv z ktorých ani jedna nie je pozitívna, všetky sú ľuďmi so všetkým tým, čo byť človekom znamená.Všetko je ľudské a každá veta z knihy je malou rozkošou z čítania. Najlepší preklad ktorý sa mi dostal do rúk. Výborná kniha, ktorá podľa mňa obsahuje všetko to, čo výborná kniha má v sebe mať. No nečakajte ľahké čítanie...
Magický, všemocný ATMA.Nech je to ktokoľvek. Náš Pán,či sama Pani Vojna, či Život sám a osamelý, ktorý cynicky komentuje nesmelé otázky hlavného hrdinu.Melkior hladuje,hlodá,nespí, nikam nepatrí a túla sa Záhrebom, hľadá spôsob ako sa vyhnúť vojenskej službe, keď aj tak Vojna dýcha spoza rohov kľukatých uličiek. Nezanedbá žiadny kút, nikoho, kto svetom kráča.
Pitoreskný labyrint z postáv z ktorých ani jedna nie je pozitívna, všetky sú ľuďmi so všetkým tým, čo byť človekom znamená.Všetko je ľudské a každá veta z knihy je malou rozkošou z čítania. Najlepší preklad ktorý sa mi dostal do rúk. Výborná kniha, ktorá podľa mňa obsahuje všetko to, čo výborná kniha má v sebe mať. No nečakajte ľahké čítanie...
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