The Beginning and the Narration of Ivan Slamnig’s Novel Bolja polovica hrabrosti

The study discusses Ivan Slamnig’s novel entitled Bolja polovica hrabrosti with focusing on the narrative features of beginning novel. Using results Croatian literary studies, paper places in context prose as first postmodern and an outstanding example Beat literature Croatia Yugoslavia, which Aleksandar Flaker called jeans . compares metapoetic meanings narration whole its closure. It establishes that gives a dominant role to eventuality, coincidence, meaninglessness instead causally motivated storytelling. does not make sense at level story told novel, however, it is important metalevel possible readings. main character Flaks lands without known aim aft er escaping from somewhere. At end he escapes again prescribed for him. “story within story” structure has thus two narrators narrated stories. According Genette’s classification, narrator (Flaks) extradiegetic-homodiegetic his own story. other (Aunt Matilda) Flaks’s fictive author embedded heterodiegetic narrator. implied reader Matilda’s short narratives are metadialogue wiTheach other. no organized life well organized, her written too. Matilda tries random happenings With she tells, bring both meaningful end. associated characteristics Yugoslavian version literature, prose: generational confrontation denial conformism post-war establishment. protagonist’s drift ing any plan, typical genre, taken by Slamnig basis so can direct our attention activity fact events portrayed also constructed. This reinforced structure. shows ending arbitrary, meaning depends selection starting point point.