A melancholy runs through the whole narrative; call it pessimism if you will. Ferić himself admits that it is probably part of his nature, but it is also based on his life experience “observing the destinies of the people around us, teaches me that life somehow always crushes us a little, in one way or another. And the fact that life destroyed these characters of mine has nothing to do with how they lived. Their misfortune is not a punishment, and especially not a punishment from God, because of how they lived. Misfortunes are not distributed in our lives as merit or guilt. There are accidents; they simply come by themselves, by their own logic and their own whims. I am convinced that at the end of our lives there is no catharsis, but some kind of irony. And that is exactly what I tried to show in the novel.” (Ognjenović, 2019) And because of that irony, nostalgia, memory, because of the seagulls and the dark angels, because of the lovers’ unfortunate fates in which each of us can mirror themselves, because of all the above and much more than that, “On the lonely shore by the sea” is a novel to read and rereads, think and rethink for months after reading, in fact, I read it for the first time last summer, and the recent re-reading inspired this text. That is probably the biggest recommendation for a novel and inspiration to “jump” on to the other Ferić’s novels, who is “a writer who for a long time has no need of comparisons with Michel Houellebecq as a reference because with his latest works he significantly surpasses this French superstar.” (Pančić 2016) Literary superstar or modest teacher, all the same, Zoran Ferić is undoubtedly a special author in full life force, and who is rightly placed at the top of the Croatian literary scene in the last two decades.
Translated by: Aneta Paunovska
Sources:
Фериќ Зоран, На осамениот брег покрај морето, превод од хрватски јазик Владимир Јанковски, Или-Или, 2020
Ferić Zoran, Biografija, http://www.gimnazija-osamnaesta-zg.skole.hr/zoran_feri_
Glavina Ema, Književna preporuka tjedna: ”Na osami blizu mora” Zorana Ferića, 16.12.16. https://www.buro247.hr/kultura/knjige/knji-evna-preporuka-tjedna-na-osami-blizu-mora-zorana-feri-a.html Accessed on 23.02.2021
Jurčić Josip, Razotkrivanje – Zoran Ferić, Gloria, broj 1352, 3 prosinca 2020
Ognjenović Vujica, Najučinkovitije oružje protiv nacionalizma je ismijavanje, Vijesti online, 27.04.2019, https://www.vijesti.me/kultura/383557/najucinkovitije-oruzje-protiv-nacionalizma-je-ismijavanje Accessed on 23.02.2021
Pančić Teofil, Jagode u kljunu, Vreme, broj 1340, 8 Septembar 2016, https://www.vreme.com/cms/view.php?id=1426310 Accessed on 21.02.2021
Pogačnik Jagna, “Na osami pored mora” Iza ležernog naslova skriva se stari, mračni Ferić, opako svoj i ekscesan, Jutarnji list, 25 studeni 2015, https://www.jutarnji.hr/kultura/knjizevnost/na-osami-blizu-mora-iza-lezernog-naslova-skriva-se-stari-mracni-feric-opako-svoj-i-ekscesan-190018 Accessed on 19.02.2021