"When I write, I don't distinguish fantasy from life or reality from imagination," he used to say Miodrag Bulatović.
It's no wonder then that fiction has always been challenging for literary theorists, often elusive, that only a few have managed to stay on that path and bring literary fiction closer to readers. One of those rare ones is a woman from Nikšić Marijana Terić, the first doctor in the field of fantasy literature in Montenegro, who before the New Year published the monograph "Endless Roads - The Reception of Yugoslav Fantastic Prose", a study that treats fantasy in the works of the most important Yugoslav writers of the second half of the 20th century.
The monograph, with which Terić rounds off his decadent work on the study of fantastic literature, was created as a revised doctoral dissertation defended at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Novi Sad "Reception of fantasy in Yugoslav literature (1945-1990)".
"The book sheds light on the phenomenon of fantasy in the literature of the former Yugoslavia, defines different approaches to the study of fantasy, points to its different types, the reception of fantastic discourse in Yugoslav literature, and then provides an analysis of representative prose works in each of the national literatures. Since the manuscript of the monograph is considered indispensable in the study of Yugoslav literature of the second half of the XNUMXth century, as well as in the reflection of our overall literary and theoretical heritage, its significance lies in the popularization of fiction within the framework of contemporary Montenegrin culture," Terić told "Vijesti".
She has published two monographs (The Inner Side of Time, Literary Observations), is the author of about 50 scientific and professional papers and a participant in almost 15 scientific conferences in the region and abroad.
"For the first time, the Montenegrin literary and cultural public is getting a unique comprehensive study in the field of fantastic literature, which opens up space for the development of critical thought, the launch of a literary fiction magazine, the promotion of Montenegrin creators whose direction is in this type of literature, but also for important intercultural cooperation with cultural artistic events, promotions, fantasy festivals in the countries of the region, but also beyond," the author points out.
Fantasists from the area of the former Yugoslavia played, as she wrote in the paper, an important role as a literary-historical phenomenon.
"They paved the way for postmodernist currents, which is why their fantastic short prose is considered a forerunner of postmodernist literary concepts. Through the work of young writers and their need to involve the reader in the process of interpreting the text, fantastic literature reached its greatest flourishing," wrote Terić in "Endless Roads" and opened the "book of heaven" so that readers could "read the meaning of the ages" (Drago Kekanović).
The book "Paths of Endlessness", according to the author, creates the conditions for "a gathering of interested readers and future young creators to get acquainted with the most significant film achievements of such a complex genre model through the world of fantastic prose, as an extremely popular phenomenon in European and world literary production." .
"Thus, Montenegro can become a recognizable ground and opens up the possibility of intercultural connection with the most important European communities of fantasy and science-fiction prose," said Terić.
And prof. Ph.D Zoran Zivkovic, one of the reviewers, points out that Marijana Terić's book will bring the contemporary Montenegrin science of literature closer to avant-garde European cultural trends.
"The author embarked on a commendable endeavor to shed light on a still understudied area of culture in these regions from the second half of the twentieth century - the creation of fantastic prose. Only in our time has it become clear that a kind of revolution took place in that field in the mentioned period - a literary genre advanced from a marginal paraliterary genre to the mother of high literature. Marijana Terić has excellently observed and presented this maturation of fantasy in general, and science fiction in particular, which today no one in the academic world denies its intrinsic value", wrote Živković and added that the book's value is enhanced by the fact that it is pioneering in many respects, and that "in the Montenegrin and Balkan frameworks, such capital studies are by no means common".
Prof. Ph.D Željko Milanović, the second reviewer of the book published by the author with the support of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, wrote that the topic of the monograph is scientifically relevant and recent, formulated clearly and precisely.
"The monograph 'Endless Roads' contains a carefully chosen research subject, clearly defined goals and a chosen methodological approach. The results of the research are factually correct, presented clearly and comprehensibly, in an academic style, in grammatically and orthographically correct language. All chapters of the monograph are based on relevant and up-to-date references and show extensive and thorough knowledge of the results of previous research on related topics", Milanović said.
"Reality has shown how fantastic it can be," he wrote Irfan Horozovic, and Marijana Terić in "Endless Roads" as much as fantasy is an inseparable part of almost every literary work.
Bonus video:
