Page 101 - E&B_septemvri 2015 ENG.indd
P. 101
LITERATURE
As an author, Petar would be his recognizable style, selection the legal and the moral norms.
Andonovski belongs to a of topics and procedures. However, there Hence, this work follows the life of a
non-mimetic, decadent, are some repeatable obsessions where
corporeal tradition Andonovski’sauthentic style protrudes. judge, who judged a severe crime for the
that is a living tradition We would say, it is the interest in the first time, a murder and a rape, and who
of the contemporary deep internal world of his characters, the quite unexpectedly becomes emotionally
world prose, butin plunges all the way to the unconscious obsessed with the defendant, and instead
our country it is not and pathological areas of the psyche, the of routinely sending him to prison for a
present at all. He is interest in the taboos, that is, their viola- long time, she tries to acquit him. In the
expressly interested in tion, the behavior onthe edge of morality, short narration, during the hearings, with
the psychopathology of against the law and the disregard for so- many reminiscences we follow the life
his characters and their cial norms. This interest is expressed even of this prominent and powerful woman
violation of the legal with the subtitle of the book in the style and we realize the numerous frustrations
and the moral norms of Baudelaire: toxic flowers from the deli- she has, that despite her high social posi-
cate morale. There is an obvious intention tions, she is actually a completely ruined
of the author to follow the tradition of the person, quite incapable of living a normal
dandy, the Decadent literature, which has life. The deep ethical, erotic, identity re-
a long tradition. The lack of mimesis in examinations that the judge makes, which
the procedure is another characteristic of take place in parallel to the exciting story
the author. In this novel, unlike the previ- where she knits the action as in a crime
ous one, he made a glowing peripety in the fiction, are the best part of this prose. In-
approach. Namely, in the “Eyes with the deed, Petar Andonovski went much deep-
color of shoes”, in a realistic chronology er than the routine psychology, which I
he placed an unusual behavior of not very would say again, is commonly seen espe-
convincing characters. Here, in an unusu- cially in our prose.
al chronology, he portrays psychologically
convincing characters, whose actsare The action only formally happens in
quite unexpected. This convincing psy- Skopje. Andonovski avoids the detailed
chologism makes us sympathizewith the description of the city, so the action may
characters, be emotionally on their side, happen anywhere. He even gives the char-
even when they take socially unacceptable acters “wrong naming”. The main charac-
actions. In this manner, the author makes ters are Brigita and Tomas, quite closer to
us their accomplices, however he also en- Scandinavian rather than Balkan names.
courages us to deeply think about the es- In this manner, the author is trying to say
sence in the world, beyond the petrified that he is not interested in the social re-
routines. The third constant in the poet- ality. He initially, a priori, accepts the de-
ics of Petar Andonovski is corporeality. pravity of the world where people live an
The body, being the limit of our being, its unadjusted, hypocritical life regardless of
appearance, butalso its physical represen- the social status. And this is a part of the
tation through which we are supposed to decadent-dandy poetics which is always in
live this unrepeatable life. The attitude to conflict with the standardized reality. He
the body, the presence of the body is em- is interested in the corruption of the hu-
phasized in this novel, unlike the automa- man psyche, rather than the socio-politi-
tism that we use in order to approach it, cal aspects of the corrupted judiciary, for
in our social practices, and particularly in example. There is a small poetic imperfec-
the modern Macedonian prose. tion in Vera’s character, the court minutes
taker, who is Brigita’s mirror image. She
Hence, as an author, Petar Andonovski has similar passion as Brigita – to bond
belongs to a non-mimetic, decadent, cor- with convicts. With such repetitive layout
poreal tradition that is a living tradition of the characters, Andonovski missed to
of the contemporary world prose, butin capture greater diversity and juxtaposi-
our country it is not present at all. He is tions.
expressly interested in the psychopathol-
ogy of his characters and their violation of However, of course, this weakness is
not of a nature that prevents obtaining
support to publish the work.
September 2015 101
