Novel
Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh
Mirisi, zlato i tamjan
Slobodan Novak · 1968
Synopsis
On a never-named Adriatic island, in an old house, Mali, a retired intellectual and war invalid, looks after with his wife Draga a centenarian countess, Madona, whom the regime has dispossessed of the lands that made up almost the whole island. He washes her, feeds her, puts up with her whims, and while watching over her he takes stock, in a long ironic and bitter monologue, of his generation and of what it had believed.
Context
The novel was written in 1967 and appeared the following year at Matica hrvatska. It is contained entirely in the narrator's monologue, and critics have recognised in it the experience of a whole generation, its dilemmas and its self-examination, in a symbolism open to several readings. Ante Babaja made a film of it in 1971, Božidar Violić a production for the Teatar &TD, created in 1974 and performed until 1994, and the Gavella theatre revived it in 2026. The English translation by Celia Hawkesworth, published in the United States in 2007, takes account of the author's revisions.
Who it is for
Some two hundred and fifty pages in English, without a plot, carried by a single voice. No French translation.
Prizes and reception
NIN Prize, Vladimir Nazor Prize, Matica hrvatska Prize and the Večernji list critics' prize on its release; nine Croatian editions.
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