Интермедијалните верификации на романите Црвениот Коњ од Ташко Георгиевски и Нежниот Варвар од Бохумил Храбал

Abstract

This PhD thesis aims to research the intermedial threads and possibilities in the structure of two novels: The Red Horse (1975) by Tashko Georgievski and The Gentle Barbarian (1973) by Bohumil Hrabal. The adaptability of both these prose works can be related to the significant amount of dramatic passages in them. The similarities and differences between them allow for counterpoints and variations that can serve as a testing ground for exploration of a certain kind of new Eurocentric literary-medial hermeneutics. By applying the method of recognition, this thesis seeks to analyse newly created works with dramatic features, discussing the transfers, dialogics and effects arising from the trans-medial characteristics of these two novels. One of the masterpieces of Balkan filmography is the feature film The Red Horse (1981), directed by Stole Popov. It is a work of art of equal importance for both film and the field of comparative literature. The central space in the film is given to Boris Tushev’s return home after his exile and his subsequent temptations. The self-denial and repentance of the lead character prefigure the deep rift in his soul and his loneliness that ends only with his death. A television series was produced on the basis of the film in 1983, while a radio play was produced earlier, on the basis of the novel in 1977, entitled The Return of Boris Tushev. In The Gentle Barbarian, Hrabal availed himself of documentary material and cultivated a constellation of characters from the periphery, closely related to his own turbulent life experience. This novel abounds in self-defensive cynicism and charming wit, rediscovering the lost cues of the author’s youthful love. The friendship of the three outsiders, Vladimír Boudník, the artist, Egon Bondy, the philosopher, and Hrabal himself, embodied as the character of the Writer, occupies the central place in the book. The novel has been staged several times, while Petr Koliha directed the feature film The Gentle Barbarian in 1989. It is one of the most poetic European films to date. The masterly feats by two authors, not only firmly position them as philological constants, Hrabal in Bohemistics, Georgievski in Balkanistics, but also validate the endless opportunities of their cult novels beyond the Slavic linguistic boundaries. We can verify that the literary corpus of the 20th century literature, determined by works such as The Red Horse and The Gentle Barbarian, is an inexhaustible source for renewed discoveries of original and unique novelistic and intermedial works.