Vojnovićev roman Jugoslavija, moja dežela kot roman ceste

slovenian

2025

volume 19, issue 2

coming-of-age novel   picaresque novel   road novel   Slovenian literature

Univerza v Ljubljani, Filozofska fakulteta
(Obvezni izvod spletne publikacije)

The article analyses Goran Vojnović’s novel Yugoslavia, My Fatherland from the per-spective of the literary genre of the road novel, which developed in the second half of the 20th century under the influence of the picaresque novel, the coming-of-age novel and the road movie film genre, primarily in North American literature, but in the 21st century it has also become popular in European literature. Vojnović’s novel has both the content and formal characteristics of this genre, such as a first-person narrator, an episodic structure, special psychological states while driving a car, which allow him to recall memories of childhood and confront traumatic experiences, a critical view of society from the position of outsiders, and the thematization of what is concealed in society. At the same time, the novel transcends the genre scheme and thematizes precisely this talking about what is left unsaid, showing that it is not only important to talk about what is left unsaid, but also how we talk about it.

27.02.2026