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A key novel of Croatian modernity. Leskovar depicts the overly sensitive writer Marcel Bušinski, who sinks in passive decadence into the shadows of unrealized, painful love, introspection, and mental weakness. First edition.
Shadows of Love (1898) by Janko Leskovar marks the transition from realism to psychological prose with modernist and decadent features. The external plot is minimal, and the center is a deep analysis of the protagonist's inner world.
The main character Marcel Bušinski is a typical "Leskovarac" - an oversensitive, passive intellectual who lives in the shadow of past emotions and unfulfilled longings (especially for Ljerka). Instead of action, he indulges in introspection, melancholy, despondency and a feeling of powerlessness of will. Love is depicted here as a destructive "shadow" - unattainable, painful and doomed to failure, which leads the hero into emotional isolation and decadence.
Leskovar was inspired by Turgenev's psychological depth and Schopenhauer's pessimism. The style is impressionistic: rich in sensory impressions, subtle mood swings and an atmosphere of melancholy. The novel is compact, focused on the inner monologues and subtle conflicts of the modern individual at the turn of the century.
As one of the purest achievements of early Croatian modernism, Shadows of Love represents a key testimony to the crisis of the contemporary intellectual and a portrait of the "Leskovar" type of character.
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