Aleksandar Marčićev
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Aleksandar Marčićev ( Serbian-Cyrillic: Александар Марчићев; born 11 November 1966 in
Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
,
SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...
) is a
Serbian Serbian may refer to: * Pertaining to Serbia in Southeast Europe; in particular **Serbs, a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans ** Serbian language ** Serbian culture **Demographics of Serbia, includes other ethnic groups within the co ...
writer and librarian.


Life and work

He graduated from the Department of
Comparative Literature Comparative literature studies is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across language, linguistic, national, geographic, and discipline, disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role ...
and
Literary theory Literary theory is the systematic study of the nature of literature and of the methods for literary analysis. Culler 1997, p.1 Since the 19th century, literary scholarship includes literary theory and considerations of intellectual history, m ...
at the Faculty of Philology in Belgrade. He has been working as a head librarian in the
Special library A special library is a library that provides specialized information resources on a particular subject, serves a specialized and limited clientele, and delivers specialized services to that clientele. Special libraries include corporate librar ...
of the Faculty of
Physical Chemistry Physical chemistry is the study of macroscopic and microscopic phenomena in chemical systems in terms of the principles, practices, and concepts of physics such as motion, energy, force, time, thermodynamics, quantum chemistry, statistical mech ...
of the
University of Belgrade The University of Belgrade () is a public university, public research university in Belgrade, Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia. Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it me ...
since 1999. He can certainly be regarded as a great unknown of contemporary Serbian literature, who has hitherto been unnoticed by the critics of the literary scene in his native country apart from a few exceptions. One of the few critics even used the claim that he would be a writer at the border of obscurity and cult, in the sense of an unknown author who is a literary recommendation of elitist circles only. Zlatoje Martinov titled his review of ''The Sins of Saint Max'' in the literary journal ''Bagdala'' of the same named circle with the headline: ''literary provocation
sui generis ( , ) is a Latin phrase that means "of its/their own kind" or "in a class by itself", therefore "unique". It denotes an exclusion to the larger system an object is in relation to. Several disciplines use the term to refer to unique entities. ...
'', which dealt with the socio-political and cultural-philosophical dimension in Marčićev's work. In fact, the author and his literary confrontation with his contemporaries, his generation, their and ultimately his culture, has not been made easy to get to the public with his work. Although he had already been awarded for the best academic
thesis A thesis (: theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: D ...
of the Philological Faculty upon graduation, and was then supported by a scholarship of the Pekić Foundation (2002) and a bursary of the Ténot Foundation (2006), a total of nine publishers had refused to edit his first novel ''All the Lives of Zechariah Neuzinski'' (completed in 2002). Marčićev writes his stories with an in-depth knowledge on literature and its literary genres, art history, history of philosophy and the general history of Europe. The first three novels, collectively called as the ''Weissenburg Threebook'' (Serbian: Vajzburškog troknjižja), are a
trilogy A trilogy is a set of three distinct works that are connected and can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, and video games. Three-part works that are considered components of ...
from the
irrational Irrationality is cognition, thinking, talking, or acting without rationality. Irrationality often has a negative connotation, as thinking and actions that are less useful or more illogical than other more rational alternatives. The concept of ...
cabinet of curiosities Cabinets of curiosities ( and ), also known as wonder-rooms ( ), were encyclopedic collections of objects whose categorical boundaries were, in Renaissance Europe, yet to be defined. Although more rudimentary collections had preceded them, t ...
of human beings. The plots of the narratives take place in Weissenburg, a city between
Byzantium Byzantium () or Byzantion () was an ancient Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity and Istanbul today. The Greek name ''Byzantion'' and its Latinization ''Byzantium'' continued to be used as a n ...
and
Pannonia Pannonia (, ) was a Roman province, province of the Roman Empire bounded on the north and east by the Danube, on the west by Noricum and upper Roman Italy, Italy, and on the southward by Dalmatia (Roman province), Dalmatia and upper Moesia. It ...
and the name of the city is the ancient German name for Belgrade, also two of the
protagonists A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a ...
has conspicuously a German name (Max Eichmann and Victor Eisberg; Neuzinski is a
neologism In linguistics, a neologism (; also known as a coinage) is any newly formed word, term, or phrase that has achieved popular or institutional recognition and is becoming accepted into mainstream language. Most definitively, a word can be considered ...
, combined with the German adjective ''new'' and a Slavic
name suffix A name suffix in the Western English-language naming tradition, follows a person's surname (last name) and provides additional information about the person. Post-nominal letters indicate that the individual holds a position, educational degree, a ...
), all deftly applied alienation effects. The writer plays masterfully with the literary genres of
Bildungsroman In literary criticism, a bildungsroman () is a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth and change of the protagonist from childhood to adulthood (coming of age). The term comes from the German words ('formation' or 'edu ...
and
autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life, providing a personal narrative that reflects on the author's experiences, memories, and insights. This genre allows individuals to share thei ...
from the
canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...
of classical literatures, and even the titles of his novels creates associative connections to works such as Augustine’s ''Confessions'',
Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...
’s ''Poetry and Truth'' and his '' Conversations with Eckermann'',
Mann Mann may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Mann'' (film), a 1999 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama * Mann (chess), a variant chess piece * ''Mann'' (magazine), a Norwegian magazine * Mann (rapper), Dijon Shariff Thames (born 19 ...
’s ''
Confessions of Felix Krull ''Confessions of Felix Krull'' () is an unfinished 1954 novel by the Germany, German author Thomas Mann. Synopsis The novel is narrated by the protagonist, an impostor and adventurer named Felix Krull, the son of a ruined Rhineland winemaker. F ...
'' or
Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...
's
Demian ''Demian: The Story of a Boyhood'' is a bildungsroman by Hermann Hesse, first published in 1919 in literature, 1919; a prologue was added in 1960 in literature, 1960. ''Demian'' was first published under the pseudonym "Emil Sinclair", the name of ...
. All three novels are
metaphorical A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide, or obscure, clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are usually meant to cr ...
confrontations with the socio-political upheavals of his country and the entire
Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...
region, biographies of fictional characters whose lives are told on the one hand autobiographically and on the other biographically by contemporary witnesses or by a
demiurge In the Platonic, Neopythagorean, Middle Platonic, and Neoplatonic schools of philosophy, the Demiurge () is an artisan-like figure responsible for fashioning and maintaining the physical universe. Various sects of Gnostics adopted the term '' ...
. They are stories about the status of culture, its actual value, its
traditions A tradition is a system of beliefs or behaviors (folk custom) passed down within a group of people or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common exa ...
and the individuals who live in it, constantly re-create and influence it through their own activities and attitudes. German history has some examples of persons who have transformed the cultural cabinet of curiosities into a chamber of nightmares: Are these places of
mind The mind is that which thinks, feels, perceives, imagines, remembers, and wills. It covers the totality of mental phenomena, including both conscious processes, through which an individual is aware of external and internal circumstances ...
called
Buchenwald Buchenwald (; 'beech forest') was a German Nazi concentration camp established on Ettersberg hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within the Altreich (Old Reich) territori ...
, Srebrenica massacre, Srebrenica or Siege of Belgrade (1717), Weissenburg? However, this real question might be a future provocation, because these places should be alienation effects of a fictitious culture only, which no longer exists in any present. The fourth novel tells about the lives of four friends from Voždovac, who have known each other since their youth, in the mirror of historical events and radical changes such as the death of Josip Tito, Tito, the Gazimestan speech by Slobodan Milošević, Milošević, the Yugoslav wars, the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia and the assassination of Zoran Đinđić. The novels ''All the Lives of Zechariah Neuzinski'' and ''Victor Eisberg: happy, despite everything'' have been nominated for the final selections of the ''Miroslav Dereta Award'' for the best unpublished manuscript by Dereta publishing in 2007 and 2009, the novels ''Saint Max'' and ''Zechariah Neuzinski'' for the NIN Awards 2007 and 2008. In any case, Aleksandar Marčićev has a famous German colleague who also worked as a librarian: Gotthold Ephraim Lessing.


Works

*Gresi svetog Maksa (The Sins of Saint Max), Mali Nemo, Pančevo 2007, *Svi životi Zaharija Neuzinskog (All the Lives of Zechariah Neuzinski), Mali Nemo, Pančevo 2008, *Viktor Ajsberg: srećan, uprkos svemu (Victor Eisberg: happy, despite everything), Mali Nemo, Pančevo 2009, *Je l' se sećaš kad je Tito umro? (Do You Remember When Tito Died?), Mali Nemo, Pančevo 2017, .Conference ''Memory in Post-Conflict Societies''
(lecture, p.3), Humboldt University 2018
Southeast Europe Association
an
CENTRAL
retrieved 2018-11-07.


Awards

* Danilo Kiš Award 1997 for the best academic thesis of the Philological Faculty * Brankova nagrada Matice srpske 1997 (Branko Radičević, Branko Award of Matica srpska) * Milan Orlić, Mali Nemo Award 2007


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marčićev, Aleksandar 1966 births Living people University of Belgrade Faculty of Philology alumni Writers from Belgrade Serbian novelists Serbian librarians