Reading the Light

Reading the Light

Reading the Light


The cinematic aspect of the narration is present not only in the aforementioned aspect of animated recording of the passages of time, but also in the interludes entitled “Filming”, i.e. short narrative sequences that are always placed between two chapters, which denote in the manner of the “French Nouveau Roman” the movement of the camera on the screen – there’s always a new person, in the supposedly private space of solitude, unaware of being observed.

The meaning of the specific narration and the composition of the novel is revealed in the final part of the novel. It is signaled in the moment of the first appearance of a feeble ray of light in the room. It comes from the cell phone of the stalker and impostor in the room, who is stalking Maria and is able with the help of the faint greenish light of the phone to make out her silhouette in the dark. With the help of the same phone which he will leave behind, his computer and identity will be located and his social network profile will ultimately be hacked. The surveillance at this moment becomes their weapon, but also pulls them into a vortex of changing roles, both spying and being spied, filming and being at the risk of being filmed. The introductory scene of the novel in which the collective protagonist of the novel is placed in contemplation before the mental screen of memory and reminiscence, at the end is transformed not only into an image of viewers in a film screening room, but also instantly into a surveillance recording. The dark room and its absolute opaque darkness is irretrievably lost. The light of day imposes a different set of challenges and acts of self-determination in a differently organized world, with a different system of meaning than the world of darkness, with its center and a periphery relying on the meditative leaning on the walls. Light brings knowledge, as I have already said, of the irretrievable utopia of darkness in a world dominated by the imposition of light. The last sentence is a paraphrase of an old verse by Dragojevich. In order to better underline the semantic complexity of this light, echoed also by this novel, I would like to once again quote this verse.

2018-12-17T13:06:38+00:00 May 31st, 2016|Categories: Reviews, Literature, Blesok no. 107|0 Comments