Традиционална веровања у подтексту романа Царска војска Ћамила Сијарића
Traditional Beliefs in the Subtext of the Novel “The Imperial Army” by Camil Sijaric

Summary/Abstract: The novel is set in on the road from Akovo to Edirne and it questions the complex symbolism of the road and the traveller. This symbolism is present in the Slovenian mythology and in Oriental culture. By the symbolism of the road Sijaric shows his interests for transitional, dual and ambivalent. He has processed these characteristics many times in his creative work so far. The text of the novel intertextually communicates with Slovenian beliefs, myths and magic and with the traditional Slovenian performances in folk traditions. The author sometimes alludes on different forms of the traditional or cites them transfering their original meaning and sometimes, if it is needed, he changes them. Traditional beliefs and performances take part in the characterization of the characters, and dominant mythological symbolism in the novel is related to the symbolism of the road. The work shows how the symbolism of the road develops through symbolism, related predominantly to Slovenian myths, but also to beliefs that exist in other cultures. This way the characters of the novel get archetypal symbolism of the traveller caught on the life road of absurdity. Key parts of the novel are being pointed out through the analysis of the symbolism of the traveller. These key parts question the absurdity of war, the relationship between an ordinary man and the military leader and send strong anti-war messages. As in majority of his novels, he here questions the inequal position of women and the absurdity of war, the attitude of the military leaders towards ordinary people who absurdly die in war. „The Imperial Army“ is brought closer to the modern novel by the distinctive violation of the enduring content structure of the realistic novel. Instead of consistent realistic development of cause and effect story, the novel is compositionally conditioned by narrative microstructures analog to oral traditions, parabola often dramatized by the embodiment of the folk beliefs and stories modeled on Oriental literature. The road and the story become the only form of life in the novel. Space and time often lose their outlines of realistic space and time, they get the symbolic meaning related to traditional beliefs and performances and to the ability of the story to slow down and ostensibly stop time, contained in the 1001 nights collection and Sheherezada’s postponement of death.

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