Maska

by Miloš Crnjanski

113 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Miloš Crnjanski (in Serbian Cyrillic: Милош Црњански, pronounced [mîlɔʃ t͡srɲǎnskiː]) was a poet of the expressionist wing of Serbian modernism, author, and a diplomat. He initially wrote poetry but later turned to prose fiction and drama, as well. He wrote about his disillusionment, the futility of war and the destruction of his country.

Crnjanski was born in Csongrád, present day Hungary in 1893. His father was a municipal notary. The family moved to Temesvár (now Timisoara in Romania), where he grew up in a Serbian environment, favouring Serbian nationalism. After high school, he studied in Rijeka and then Vienna. After the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, he was persecuted like other Serbs and then drafted into the army to fight the Russians. He was wounded in 1915, spending time in a hospital in Vienna. He was later sent back to the Italian front. He then studied art history and philosophy in Vienna and graduated from the University of Belgrade, where he had edited the student newspaper. He later worked as a teacher, a newspaper editor and an embassy press attaché in Berlin and then in the Yugoslav Embassy in Rome. He also worked as reporter in Spain during the Spanish Civil War. In World War II, he escaped to London, where he remained after the war, becoming a British citizen. He worked in Hatchards, the bookshop, while his wife sewed dolls dresses for Harrods. He returned to Belgrade, Serbia in 1965, where he died in 1977.

Reviews

[Milica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slučajno (ili možda ne) simbolično zaokružujem ovu čitalačku godinu naslovom koji je obeležio period u kome se trenutno nalazimo. Reč maska za nas više nikada neće imati istu konotaciju kakvu je imala za Crnjanskog. Sa samog početka piščevog stvaranja dolazi nam manje poznata drama Maska. Kako je i sam pisac u podnaslovu definiše, to je jedna vrsta poetične komedije.

Dramski tekst u duhu romantizma, bal pod maskama u bečkom salonu, aristokratija (i lažna aristokratija) udruženi su u grotesknom svetu laži, prevare i materijalizma. Zanimljivo je što je pisac kao postupak karakterizacije odabrao izraženo korišćenje stranih jezika (nemačkog, italijanskog, francuskog, engleskog i srpskog) i neretko njihovu kombinaciju u istoj rečenici. Događanja su smeštena 1851. godine, pred pepeljavu sredu, oko 6 sati uveče – ako obratimo pažnju na datum, primećujemo da je to hrišćanski praznik, dan kada počinje Veliki post. Dakle, imamo profano i sakralno vreme, vreme poštovanja zabrane i vreme dozvoljenog prestupa. Bečka aristokratija organizuje zimski karneval, bal pod maskama. Karneval u širem smislu znači poništavanje svih zabrana, grehova i revitalizaciju seksualne snage. Književni teoretičar Mihail Bahtin uvodi termin karnevalizacija – okretanje ka materijalnom, ismevanje svetog, menjanje uloga. Stoga Crnjanski u svom delu pravi neprestane obrte dešavanja, prerušavanja i laži. Fantastično je prikazan antagonizam između Generalice i Glumice. Njih dve su identične osim u jednoj pojedinosti (onoj najvažnijoj): jedna je mlada, a druga je na pragu starosti i vapi za još jednom strasnom večeri. Jedan od gostiju bala je i Branko Radičević, prikazan kao melanholičan pesnik koji voli samo svoju Frušku goru i koji čezne za skorom smrću (dok pada lišće).

Za kraj bih se samo osvrnula na simbolizaciju (karnevalske) maske i da se ona koristi da sakrije gubitak identiteta koji zapada u krizu svojim udvajanjem. Maska je ta koja udvaja, zamenjuje, krije, plaši i vara – nema lica, ostaje samo ništavilo. One su nepomične, one su beživotne, one sakrivaju smrt.