Advanced search
1 file | 1.91 MB Add to list

A different kind of war story: Aleksandar Zograf's regards from Serbia and Tomaž Lavrič's Bosnian fables

Stijn Vervaet (UGent)
Author
Organization
Abstract
This article discusses the ways in which post-Yugoslav comics have engaged with the violent dissolution of Yugoslavia. Focusing on the different graphic and narrative strategies deployed in Aleksandar Zograf’s Regards from Serbia (1994-2007) and in Tomaž Lavrič’s Bosanske basne (1997), it examines how contemporary comics challenge the problems of the historical and aesthetical representation of social turmoil, war, and the human suffering involved. It is argued that Zograf’s and Lavrič’s understanding of comics as a particular way of seeing encourages the reader to imagine individual war experiences. More specifically, it is demonstrated how Zograf and Lavrič each in a different way dissolve the boundaries between fiction and non-fiction and use the various possibilities of comics’ visual language to invoke an imaginative engagement with and ethical responsiveness to the suffering of others. While Zograf’s use of a graphic alter ego as narrator is reminiscent of the recent auto(bio)graphic trend in comics, Lavrič resorts to more traditional modes of narration. Using the genre of ‘fables’, he transcends the subjective, autobiographic point of view and uncovers paradigmatic instances of war. Whereas Zograf’s often non-realistic, highly conceptual and at times even absurd visual language points to the difficulties of representing the absurdity of war and life in a society under sanctions and ironically undermines and inverts dominant mass media representations of war, Lavrič uses more realistic visual language, alternating points of view, and classical methods of ‘narrative drawing’ to appeal to the imagination of the reader. Zooming in on the fate of individuals in a society caught in war and under the pressure of sanctions, Zograf’s and Lavrič’s work serves as an invaluable complement to conventional historical narratives and journalistic reporting about the war(s) that tore apart Yugoslavia. Furthermore, their work can function as a powerful corrective to dominant nationalist interpretations of the dissolution of the country because it helps preserve, (trans)form, and circulate alternative narratives, images, and memories of the violent disintegration of Yugoslavia through the sphere of popular culture.
Keywords
Comics, Aleksandar Zograf, Tomaž Lavrič, Regards from Serbia, representation of war, Bosanske basne, Yugoslav Wars, COMICS

Downloads

  • (...).pdf
    • full text
    • |
    • UGent only
    • |
    • PDF
    • |
    • 1.91 MB

Citation

Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:

MLA
Vervaet, Stijn. “A Different Kind of War Story: Aleksandar Zograf’s Regards from Serbia and Tomaž Lavrič’s Bosnian Fables.” SLAVIC AND EAST EUROPEAN JOURNAL, vol. 55, no. 2, 2011, pp. 161–87.
APA
Vervaet, S. (2011). A different kind of war story: Aleksandar Zograf’s regards from Serbia and Tomaž Lavrič’s Bosnian fables. SLAVIC AND EAST EUROPEAN JOURNAL, 55(2), 161–187.
Chicago author-date
Vervaet, Stijn. 2011. “A Different Kind of War Story: Aleksandar Zograf’s Regards from Serbia and Tomaž Lavrič’s Bosnian Fables.” SLAVIC AND EAST EUROPEAN JOURNAL 55 (2): 161–87.
Chicago author-date (all authors)
Vervaet, Stijn. 2011. “A Different Kind of War Story: Aleksandar Zograf’s Regards from Serbia and Tomaž Lavrič’s Bosnian Fables.” SLAVIC AND EAST EUROPEAN JOURNAL 55 (2): 161–187.
Vancouver
1.
Vervaet S. A different kind of war story: Aleksandar Zograf’s regards from Serbia and Tomaž Lavrič’s Bosnian fables. SLAVIC AND EAST EUROPEAN JOURNAL. 2011;55(2):161–87.
IEEE
[1]
S. Vervaet, “A different kind of war story: Aleksandar Zograf’s regards from Serbia and Tomaž Lavrič’s Bosnian fables,” SLAVIC AND EAST EUROPEAN JOURNAL, vol. 55, no. 2, pp. 161–187, 2011.
@article{1891136,
  abstract     = {{This article discusses the ways in which post-Yugoslav comics have engaged with the violent dissolution of Yugoslavia. Focusing on the different graphic and narrative strategies deployed in Aleksandar Zograf’s Regards from Serbia (1994-2007) and in Tomaž Lavrič’s Bosanske basne (1997), it examines how contemporary comics challenge the problems of the historical and aesthetical representation of social turmoil, war, and the human suffering involved. It is argued that Zograf’s and Lavrič’s understanding of comics as a particular way of seeing encourages the reader to imagine individual war experiences. More specifically, it is demonstrated how Zograf and Lavrič each in a different way dissolve the boundaries between fiction and non-fiction and use the various possibilities of comics’ visual language to invoke an imaginative engagement with and ethical responsiveness to the suffering of others. While Zograf’s use of a graphic alter ego as narrator is reminiscent of the recent auto(bio)graphic trend in comics, Lavrič resorts to more traditional modes of narration. Using the genre of ‘fables’, he transcends the subjective, autobiographic point of view and uncovers paradigmatic instances of war. Whereas Zograf’s often non-realistic, highly conceptual and at times even absurd visual language points to the difficulties of representing the absurdity of war and life in a society under sanctions and ironically undermines and inverts dominant mass media representations of war, Lavrič uses more realistic visual language, alternating points of view, and classical methods of ‘narrative drawing’ to appeal to the imagination of the reader. Zooming in on the fate of individuals in a society caught in war and under the pressure of sanctions, Zograf’s and Lavrič’s work serves as an invaluable complement to conventional historical narratives and journalistic reporting about the war(s) that tore apart Yugoslavia. Furthermore, their work can function as a powerful corrective to dominant nationalist interpretations of the dissolution of the country because it helps preserve, (trans)form, and circulate alternative narratives, images, and memories of the violent disintegration of Yugoslavia through the sphere of popular culture.}},
  author       = {{Vervaet, Stijn}},
  issn         = {{0037-6752}},
  journal      = {{SLAVIC AND EAST EUROPEAN JOURNAL}},
  keywords     = {{Comics,Aleksandar Zograf,Tomaž Lavrič,Regards from Serbia,representation of war,Bosanske basne,Yugoslav Wars,COMICS}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{161--187}},
  title        = {{A different kind of war story: Aleksandar Zograf's regards from Serbia and Tomaž Lavrič's Bosnian fables}},
  volume       = {{55}},
  year         = {{2011}},
}

Web of Science
Times cited: