Meeresstille – un roman al istoriei
Meeresstille – A Novel about History

Summary/Abstract: The present study analyzes Nicol Ljubić’s novel, Meeresstille (translated into English as The Stillness of the Sea), which focuses on a case brought before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands, concerning crimes allegedly committed during the Bosnian War by Zlatko Šimić. On this historical background, a love affair is also developed: one of the trial spectators is the historian Robert, Ana Šimić’s friend. Besides trying to find out the truth about a man whom Ana admires and is a reputed professor of literature, Robert is even more interested in how each witness recreates the facts. Therefore, we will follow how Ljubić’s novel deals with several questions or issues: How can different generations deal with the past, with the guilt, and how can they know the truth? Is the truth still relevant, or is the discourse about the past more important? Having Croatian roots, Nicol Ljubić identifies himself with the character’s attempt to relate to his own history. The external perspective, however, leads not to an emotional narrative, but to a documentary. The textual frame of the trial is repeatedly interrupted by Robert’s flashbacks about his family and about his relationship with Ana (who is not present at the trial). The detailed research undertaken by Robert, while trying to learn as many perspectives as he can, reveals only hypotheses that can be staged as a Shakespearian play (Zlatko Šimić’s and Ana’s favourite author). The narrative can be described by the phrase “the stillness of the sea”, but history’s restlessness proves that there are no clear boundaries between victims and oppressors.

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