Slavenka Drakulic Criticism
Slavenka Drakulic is a prominent Croatian novelist and essayist, renowned for her incisive exploration of the impacts of communism and war on Eastern European women. Her work primarily delves into the domestic realm and the individual's experience, offering a unique perspective distinct from broader geopolitical narratives. Despite being labeled a regional writer, her candid portrayal of cultural and political upheaval in her native region has resonated more with Western audiences, partly due to the critical reception it faced in Croatia.
Born in 1949 in Rijeka, Yugoslavia, Drakulic was raised in a politically involved family but grew to be a vocal critic of communism and a committed feminist. Her journalism career includes contributions to major publications like Ms. magazine and The Nation. Her literary journey began with novels like Holograms of Fear, a narrative enriched by her experiences and reflections on post-war Yugoslavia. Her works often blend journalism and fiction, illuminating personal stories against the backdrop of broader societal issues.
Among her significant works, How We Survived Communism and Even Laughed offers a vivid account of communism's failures from a female perspective, while The Balkan Express captures the personal and societal transformations wrought by the Balkan wars. Marble Skin and The Taste of a Man tackle intimate and controversial themes of familial and romantic relationships with unflinching candor, exploring taboo subjects like incest and cannibalism. Her nonfiction, such as Café Europa, critiques the post-communist landscape and the persistent challenges of identity and democracy in Eastern Europe.
Critics have acknowledged Drakulic's journalism's influence on her fiction, recognizing her keen eye for detail and succinct prose. While some criticize the lack of depth in her fictional characterizations, others appreciate her insights into the subtleties of war and communism's effects on the individual. As Anthony Borden noted, Drakulic's focus on personal narratives highlights the complex realities of conflict and the monumental task of reconciliation. Her work remains a compelling window into the challenges faced by Eastern European societies, blending personal narrative with broader historical and political themes.
Contents
- Principal Works
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Essays
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Vogue Desire
(summary)
In the following review, Benn discusses the domestic frame of reference of How We Survived Communism and Even Laughed. I warn you. There is not much laughing in How We Survived Communism and Even Laughed. Originally commissioned as an essay in the US feminist magazine Ms., Slavenka Drakulic, one of Yugoslavia's founding feminists, has written one of the first insider accounts of what it was like to be a woman under eastern European Communism. It is neither a comprehensive nor an academic study; more, a set of connected allusions, observations and recorded conversations.
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Out of Grandmother's Store Cupboard
(summary)
In the following review, Hughes discusses Holograms of Fear in context of Drakulic's essays in How We Survived Communism and Even Laughed. Images of death and decay haunt Holograms of Fear, a novel which focuses on a woman's thoughts before and after a kidney transplant operation in a hospital outside New York. The operation goes well, so why is she afraid? The narrative shifts between countries and decades, exploring the narrator's two realities and the impact of her past in post-war Yugoslavia. The divisions are healed only in the closing pages, and the writing is assured, working on many levels, including political metaphor.
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Self-Disclosing Days
(summary)
In the following review, Turner analyzes the relationship between Drakulic's work and Western feminism, focusing on Holograms of Fear and How We Survived Communism and Even Laughed as well as Gloria Steinem's Revolution from Within.
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Into the Dark
(summary)
In the following review, Mitchison lauds The Balkan Express for vividly delineating a war's effects on everyday life.
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Broken Lives, Deadened Souls: Inside the Disintegrating Balkans
(summary)
In the following review, Drew praises Drakulic's portrayal of the effects of war on the individual in The Balkan Express. These powerful essays about the war in the former Yugoslavia should be required reading for anyone concerned about the barbarity being practiced in the Balkans.
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The Balkan Tragedy
(summary)
In the following review, Ignatieff traces the history of the current conflict in the Balkans using several recent works, including Misha Glenny's The Fall of Yugoslavia, Branka Magas's The Destruction of Yugoslavia, and Drakulic's The Balkan Express.
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‘We are the War.’
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In the following review, Borden asserts that Drakulic's focus on the individual in The Balkan Express is important to understanding the war in that region.
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Portraits of Europe's Powder Keg
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In the following review, Kisslinger compares and contrasts The Balkan Express to Robert D. Kaplan's Balkan Ghosts.
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Realm of the Senses
(summary)
In the following review, Ashworth examines the themes, content, and style of Marble Skin. Slavenka Drakulič is a mapper of fraught and forbidden territories. Having chronicled the recent Eastern European crises in her essay collections, Balkan Express and How We Survived Communism and Even Laughed, the Croatian writer has turned to fiction to explore the more intimate terrain of the female body. Her second novel, Marble Skin, marks her courageous foray into the literary no-man's-land of the sexual mother, a compelling figure of desire rather than maternal love. Crossing the frontiers of taboo, Drakulič plunges into the heart of incestuousness to expose the female psyche in its darkest and most fleshy aspects.
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Review of The Balkan Express
(summary)
In the following review, Willens praises Drakulic's combination of narrative and journalism to describe the war in The Balkan Express.
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Bosnia: Guilt by Dissociation? A Discussion with Slavenka Drakulic
(summary)
In the following essay, Drakulic and Phillips explore the moral implications of personal responsibility in relation to the Bosnian conflict, emphasizing the dangers of dissociation and the societal tendency to categorize individuals as "others," thereby abdicating personal accountability for the suffering caused by war.
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Jean, Slavenka, and the Tea Party for Sanity
(summary)
In the following essay, Cobban discusses the effects of war on women portrayed in works by Drakulic and Jean Said Makdisi.
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Review of Sterben in Kroatien: Vom Krieg mitten in Europa
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In the following review, Despalatović contends that Drakulic is at her best when describing the “underside” of the war in Croatia in The Balkan Express.
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Another False Dawn
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In the following review, Brisby points out inconsistencies in Drakulic's Café Europa: Life after Communism, but argues that “her critique is well worth listening to.”
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Breaking Away
(summary)
In the following review, Merrill offers a positive assessment of Café Europa, praising the collection as insightful and engaging.
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Strangers in a City
(summary)
In the following review, Bingham lauds Drakulic's narrative skill in The Taste of a Man and discusses the novel's major themes. There is much to admire in Slavenka Drakulic's chilling tale of all-consuming passion, not least the skill with which she measures out the desperate paradox that lies at its very heart. Remorseless in their detail, her descriptions are simultaneously erotic and objective. Celebratory in tone, The Taste of a Man is also a heartfelt, if unrepentant confession. Its themes are exile, social taboos and obsessive love.
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Hungry for His Love
(summary)
In the following review, Schillinger asserts that the theme of Drakulic's The Taste of a Man is the loss of identity that occurs when a person is consumed by love.
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Review of Café Europa: Life after Communism
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In the following review, Simmons compares Drakulic's oeuvre to the works of Dubravka Ugresic and asserts that Café Europa is both informative and entertaining.
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Review of The Taste of a Man
(summary)
In the following review, Iordanova notes flaws in The Taste of a Man, but asserts that Drakulic's concurrent interests in writing essays on civil causes and erotic novels makes her career interesting.
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No Place Like Home
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In the following review, Jablow discusses Drakulic's S: A Novel about the Balkans and Dubravka Ugresic's The Museum of Unconditional Surrender.
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Review of As If I Am Not There: A Novel about the Balkans
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In the following review, Gorup complains that As If I Am Not There is overly concerned with ideology and lacks sufficient plot and characterization.
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Slavenka Drakulic: Dissidence and Rhetorical Voice in Postcommunist Eastern Europe
(summary)
In the following essay, Marin examines Drakulic's role as a marginalized Balkan critic, commending her “rich narratives of postcommunist and communist times.”
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Vogue Desire
(summary)
- Further Reading