The symbolism of space in the novel the chronicle of the provincial theatre by Pavao Pavličić

Abstract

The paper analyses the shaping of space in the novel The Chronicle of the Provincial Theatre by Pavao Pavličić. Postmodern giving priority to marginal categories is manifested in the following ways: national and world history reflect the life of the provincial town of Varoš; a theatre was built on the edge of the town close to the Danube River; the caretaker’s family lives in the theatrical building, whereby the boundaries of public and private space are wiped off; instead of the cultural heterotopia, the theatre of Varoš became an institution with numerous inartistic functions; the family and historical chronicle contains the elements of a detective novel (a stolen angel from the theatrical dome was being sought for almost a century, as long as the main character’s search for his personal identity lasted). Geographic figures form the symbolic layer of the novel: the theatre as a cultural and social figure of the mainland, the Danube River as a link with the countries of the Central and Eastern Europe and the aerial image which redefines the landscape of Varoš. Given these characteristics, Pavličić’s novel belongs to the variant of the new historical novel in Croatian literature.