Avala Is Falling / / Biljana Jovanović.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Central European University Press eBook-Package 2020
• VerfasserIn: Jovanović, Biljana,
• MitwirkendeR: Cox, John K.,
• Place / Publishing House: Budapest ;, New York : : Central European University Press, , [2022]; ©2020
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Language: English
• Series: CEU Press Classics (formerly Central European Classics)
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (240 p.)

In Avala Is Falling, Jovanović’s breakout success in 1978, a young woman challenges the expectations that teachers, parents, bus drivers, and doctors have for her. The “Avala” of the title refers to a mountain south of Belgrade which is home to some of Serbia’s most important nationalist monuments and shrines; it is also the site of the main mental hospital for the region, and its “falling” is the unexpected fulfillment of a prophecy from a traditional Serbian folk song. Jovanović’s use of stream of consciousness in her characters’ thinking and speaking, as well as of intertextuality in description and plot advancement heralded the arrival of an innovative new writer who was determined to break with the of traditional concerns of earlier women writers. This book is now recognized as much more than “jeans prose,” although the fame the book achieved under that characterization eventually pushed it to cult status. Jovanović is now considered a major avant-garde writer, whose stylistic innovations were as challenging as her women-centered themes.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE -- CHAPTER ONE Introductory Remarks by Jelena’s Biographer -- CHAPTER TWO Mr. Swede, the Moustache -- CHAPTER THREE Mića, the Future Officer -- CHAPTER FOUR Propellers, Motors I -- CHAPTER FIVE Marijana Says: “There’s a Daffodil between my Legs” -- CHAPTER SIX Bautista Van Šoven (Bautista Van Schouwen) -- CHAPTER SEVEN Propellers, Motors II -- CHAPTER EIGHT Aunt Maša’s House Rules -- CHAPTER NINE The Secretary of the Tenants’ Council, and a Volunteer -- CHAPTER TEN Playing Chess on Dositelj Street -- CHAPTER ELEVEN The Lookout (The Words of the Anonymous Man Who Longs to Love Jelena’s Body) -- CHAPTER TWELVE Jelena’s Siamese Twin -- CHAPTER THIRTEEN Jelena’s Second Letter -- CHAPTER FOURTEEN Mathematical Symbols for Jelena’s Future, or Zoran’s Lips -- CHAPTER FIFTEEN Jelena’s First Letter -- EPILOGUE -- AFTERWORD