The influence of Jewish identity on the prose work of Danilo Kish Cover Image

Uticaj jevrejskog identiteta na prozni opus Danila Kiša
The influence of Jewish identity on the prose work of Danilo Kish

Author(s): Sanja Domazet
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Jewish studies, Studies of Literature, Jewish Thought and Philosophy, Sociology of Literature
Published by: Fakultet političkih nauka Univerziteta u Beogradu
Keywords: Jewish identity; literature; prose work; narrative

Summary/Abstract: Although the basic postulate in the non-fiction statements of the writer Danilo Kish was that he was primarily a European writer, a deeper insight into the prose work of this author indicates that Judaism and Jewish origin had a strong influence on the work of this creator. Namely, the Jewish world is a prose narrative that is frequent, even predominant, in Danilo Kish. When writing his works, Kish contextualized his own origin and the corpus of topics he dealt with, first of all, as Central European, and to a lesser extent as Jewish. He points out that he is first and foremost a European writer, because Yugoslavia, the country he came from, belongs to Europe, and its culture and literature are European. In a narrower sense, Kis felt himself indebted to Central Europe, and the Hungarian milieu he met in his childhood, knowledge of the Hungarian language and literature, had a decisive influence on the writer. This paper, through the analysis of Kish’s prose oeuvre, will show that, although, in a spiritual sense, Kish moved from Yugoslavia to Central Europe, his entire prose narrative, themes, atmosphere, way of forming characters, composing novels and prose dramaturgy, is of key importance influence of Jewish heritage and Judaism.

  • Issue Year: 2024
  • Issue No: 26
  • Page Range: 97-104
  • Page Count: 8
  • Language: Serbian
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