Lik zaručnice kod Ive Andrića i Antona Pavloviča Čehova / The Character of the Bride in I. Andrić and A. P. Chekhov

izuzetna i slobodna / Exceptional and Free

Abstract

The comparative work The Character of the Bride by I. Andrić and A. P. Chekhov: Exceptional and Free compares two female characters of engaged / promised girls: Andrić’s Fata Avdagina from the novel The Bridge on the Drina and Chekhov’s Nadia from the novel The Fiancée. The paper examines the mode of heroines and their way of deciding when giving up a marriage that none of the heroines want. Referring to the text, the paper examines the exceptionality of Fata Avdagina in the context of the spatial and temporal specificity of the character, as it also examines the issue of freedom and decision to leave the space and the potential conventional marriage of Chekhov’s Nadia. Through the literary analysis of the character, the paper draws conclusions that determine the modal affiliation of the heroines and opens the question of the freedom of female characters with an emphasis on a specific situation where within the historical context a more modern female character emerged in an earlier time period, which in turn raises the question of different literary contexts in different literary communities and spaces of literary creation. With this clue, the most representative female character of the Chekhov’s bride and the most exceptional character of the only bride who does not agree to the marriage of Andrić were chosen for this work. The paper examines the extent to which Nadia’s individualization, ie Fata’s socialization, determines the further course of the action and their completion, as well as calls into question the relationship of individuals to society and the relationship of society to individuals. Also, the work raises the question of why an exceptional being in the world of the small town of Andrić’s novel must be destined for tragedy, while Chekhov’s female character is given the possibility of freedom the moment he becomes a character of activity.