Hum (Jan 2012)
EXISTENTIALS IN ANDRIĆ’S PROKLETA AVLIJA
Abstract
Prokleta avlija as a novel is not only an outstanding literary achievement. It is also a philosophic tale with many interwoven existential themes. This does not come as a surprise because Andrić was well versed in the philosophy of his time, especially its existential streamings, which he abundantly used to portrait the psychological aspects of his characters and also for reflections about life itself. In the distorted reality of the 20th century, seen as a mental wasteland, the idea of world as infernal and catastrophic was almost self evident. Andrić skilfully uses this tumult as a background for his novel, placing the action in an infamous Turkish prison. This prison serves well as a paradigm of total dehumanization, even though it is placed in the 20th century, a time of technical advance and the peak of civilization. Existential philosophers as Jaspers, Sartre or Heidegger deal with the same phenomenons, so there exist some correlates between Andrić and these philosophers. So we find motifs as thrownness in the world, paradox, abandonment, vulnerability, struggle, guilt, resignation, anxiety, despair, death, nothingness. Here we are dealing with the so called existentials, in other words fundamental aspects of the existence of a man, which assume a pivotal role in this age of all – inclusive calamity.
