In 2010, Drago Jančar published his novel about "a few years of life and mysterious disappearance of Veronika Zarnik, a young woman from Ljubljana bourgeois society, who was dragged into a swirl of antsy history". As far as the topic is concerned, the author was inspired by Marija Cvetek's article Spomini na Strmol, Vilma Mlakar, roj. Urh-nekdanja strmolska sobarica. To noč sem jo videl is a historical, war and love novel that is comprised of five narrations, in which Veronika is absent. The narration structure that reminds us of Japanese short story and film Rašomon is still quite unfamiliar to the Slovenian audience, but we can definitely describe it as interesting, especially because of the gradual revelation of the main story throughout five chapters displaying five protagonists. Analytic structure prevails the whole novel, as the story revolves mainly around the reminiscences of events that took place in 1941, when the German occupying forces came to the Slovenian territory. The Partisan attack on Podgorska graščina that occurs on January 8, 1944, represents the central event of the novel. The narrators try to clear up the mysterious disappearance of Veronika and Leo Zarnik, the lords of the manor. The novel is based on a true story - it depicts the destiny of Rado and Ksenija Hribar who lived in the Strmol castle. Both Ksenija and Veronika are portrayed as joyous wives and mistresses as well as humane landowners. Veronikaʼs husband was a successful businessman who often hosted his business partners in the castle. There But some persons the local inhabitants and Partisans found suspicious - they suspected the Zarnik couple of cooperating with the German occupying forces. The main idea of the novel is the ruthlessness of the clashes of different ideologies that kill some people "who only wanted to live". In the novel, the historical motifs predominate; the most obvious motif is the one with the German occupying forces being present in the Slovenian territory in 1941, whereas in Steve Radovanović's story the emphasis is put on the love motif of two socially unequal lovers. There are three main themes in Jančar's novel To noč sem jo videl, e.g. historical, love and existential theme. Jančar consciously decided to choose five first-person narrators who all derive from their personal knowledge.
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