Author(s): Aleksandra Kuzmić / Language(s): Serbian
/ Issue: 151/2013
The paper One aspect of the characters’ concept in the Balkan Spy (Balkanski špijun) analyzes elements which make the characters either static or dynamic, as well as the static-dynamic relation towards the social moment and prevailing ideology,the harmony or gap which exists between the internal life of the hero and what the hero manifests, along with the connection of these factors with Kovačević’s dramaturgy. Based on the width and length analysis of the characters from the Balkan Spy, it may be concluded that the concepts of almost all characters are static,which is only to be expected in a comedy. The transformation of the only conceptually dynamic character, Sonja Čvorović, who undertakes the visible path towards independence by reaching a new level of consciousness, is not in the focus of the dramatic text, although the potential for a change which characterizes her, places this heroine in opposition towards all other characters. On the other hand, the ideological pattern which governs the behavior of the drama heroes forms the basis of the essential differences among the static characters (for example Ilija – the Tenant).They also affect the dramaturgical functions of a certain character very directly.When the behavior of the static characters (except for the Tenant) is compared to the way the social system functions in Kovačević’s black comedy, the similarity which exists between them becomes evident. In other words, the way the characters think and their corresponding actions are manifested as an extension of the state paradigm in which the question of responsibility is shifted to an undefined guilty party or to state enemies, thus camouflaging the unpleasant truth on the extent of personal contribution to failures and mistakes. The destructivity of the ideological model in which Kovačević places the Balkan Spy is also visible when comparing the situations Ilija Čvorović and Petar Markov Jakovljević get into, as the Tenant suffers because he is an opponent, while Ilija suffers because he is the instrument. In such a constellation there are no winners among the characters placed on the scene.The static concept of the characters, confrontation of ideologically differently based static concepts, but also the gap between the inner life of the character and what the character expresses (depth), identifiable for Ilija Čvorović for example, clears the space for laughter and comical elements, although the grotesque and the absurd may easily swing the genre pendulum to the field of the tragic and frightening. This is quite certain from the perspective of those who have not been instrumentalized nor share the rigid Čvorović-view of the world, since it is inevitably clear that they may,at any time, become the subject of surveillance and uncontrollable mistreatment conditioned by the personal nightmare of the pursuer.
More...
