The Ethics of the Anti-War Letter and Poetics of Testimony in Tvrtko Kulenović’s History of Illness (1994) Cover Image

Etička dimenzija antiratnog pisma i poetike svjedočenja u romanu Istorija bolesti (1994) Tvrtka Kulenovića
The Ethics of the Anti-War Letter and Poetics of Testimony in Tvrtko Kulenović’s History of Illness (1994)

Author(s): Elmir Spahić
Subject(s): Review, Ethics / Practical Philosophy, Bosnian Literature, Studies in violence and power, Victimology, Transformation Period (1990 - 2010), Peace and Conflict Studies, Wars in Jugoslavia
Published by: Centar za napredne studije
Keywords: Anti-war letter; Bosniak literature; ethical literary criticism; ethics; History of Illness; morality; poetics of testimony; Sarajevo; Tvrtko Kulenović; war;

Summary/Abstract: Tvrtko Kulenović’s History of Illness (1994) belongs to the anti-war letter and poetics of testimony genres from late 20th-century Bosniak and Bosnian-Herzegovian literature. Although a novel, History of Illness depicts the evils of the 1992–1995 war, in which Sarajevo was besieged by the Yugoslav People’s Army and the Army of Republika Srpska. Kulenović writes from the position of victim, and advocates the idea of ethical engagement during the writing process, in which the narrative and existential selves merge. This paper uses the methodological bases of ethical literary criticism to prove the ethical dimension of the literary text.

  • Issue Year: 9/2022
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 115-130
  • Page Count: 16
  • Language: Bosnian