Möbiusovom vrpcom između cvrčaka i bubnjeva: autoreferencijalnost u Samotnom životu tvom Ranka Marinkovića

Even though Ranko Marinković’s novella Your Solitary Life (Samotni život tvoj) is regarded as one of the author’s most complex short prose works, it is rarely in the limelight of critical attention. With this in mind, this paper interprets the novella primarily through different auto-referential elements that are abundant in the text. Such elements include parts of the text that: discuss the process of literary creation or some of its aspects; that function as metaphors or metonymies of a given aspect of literary practice; and that directly incorporate some of the earlier (canonic) works (with allusions, direct or indirect citations). By analysing different auto-referential/intertextual motifs, the paper aims to show that such components function as scattered focal points around which the fabric of the novella is weaved, whereas the central event (the arrival of the local bishop to the island) functions only as its illusory centre. Outlining espacement of the novella reveals that the shape of its basic structure corresponds to that of the Mobius strip: it repeatedly mirrors its focal points, while constantly mediating between the (non-absolute) inside and the outside, and between metaphorical and metonymical transformations (essentialcontingent, appropriate-inappropriate, authentic-fabricated, sublime-low, etc.). The protagonist functions as the main joint enabling movement along the Mobius strip, while auto-referentiality’s main aim is to ironically subvert the abovementioned binary oppositions.