The subversive literary and political exile of the Croatian-French surrealist Radovan Ivšić
The subversive literary and political exile of the Croatian-French surrealist Radovan Ivšić

Summary/Abstract: By analysing and interpreting biographical data, previous research and the author’s poems, this paper will aim to show the exile of the poet and playwright Radovan Ivšić, or to be more precise, his literary, political and spatial exile. Choosing Surrealism in both his art and as a world view, the author was discarded not just by governing structures in which literary works of rural and social topics were dominant but was also rejected by his peers, who opted for their own discourse and with who Ivšić had started the literary journal Krugovi. The poet is then left spaceless; without acceptance from his homeland, which is part of his identity, as was his mother tongue. He will also be turned away from the heteroropia of krugovaši which was, in his case, only seemingly open. Ivšić’s exile to France does not provide a clear language or cultural belonging. Therefore, he must create a new identity in a new language, while simultaneously writing in both French and Croatian. Included in the French anthology of Surrealism, recognised in another space, the emphasis of this research will also be on illuminating his work in the context of Croatian literary corpus.

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