ИЗМЕЂУ ИГРЕ И ИНИЦИЈАЦИЈЕ ПАВИЋ И НАСЛЕЂЕ ЕВРОПСКОГ ЕЗОТЕРИЗМА
BETWEEN PLAY AND INITIATION. PAVIĆ AND HERITAGE OF EUROPEAN ESOTERISM

Summary/Abstract: The paper investigates the sources of Pavić’s prose originating from esoterism and occultism. He uses Bogomilism, Kabala, Ishmaelism and Free Masonry. The short story “Damaskin” can be thus read as a mason allegory. Kabala determines the key idea of “The Khazar Dictionary” (restauration of Adam Kadmon), but Kabala suited Pavić also because of its combinatory possibilities (similar to baroque poetics). The “Khazar” belief was actually taken from the trend of moderate dualism within Bogomilism, in the same way as the author uses the Ishmaelite teachings about Adam in the Islamic part of the lexicon. If one follows genealogies, one can see that from the Khazars there originate the Ishmaelite brotherhood, but also the Bogomils, and from them “the builders” (masons); thus the indeterminability of the Khazar religion can mean belonging to the inner circle of Abrahamian religions, to the esotheric – which would indicate that it is not just the case of postmodern relativism, but of an esoteric standpoint. The paper indentifies some of the quotations in the works (e.g. from Sefer Jecira in “The Dictionary”, from the Gospel according to Judas in “The Second Body”), because the poetics of quotations is important to understand his prose; however, quotations could be adjusted (e.g. the small table from “The Dictionary” is a Hebrew talisman, but changed so to create an association with the devil). The novel ‘The Second Body” talks about conquering of immortality (otherwise conditional) starting from man’s condition as a medial one.

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