Sudbine.

Mihailovich, Vasa D.

Veljko P. Bojic. Los Angeles. Privately published. 1997. 347 pages.

Following several books of poetry, novels, and plays, Veljko P. Bojic has now published his short stories for the first time. The nine shorter and longer stories in Sudbine (Destinies) were all written in 1983. In some ways they reflect the style of Bojic's novels: stark realism with pronounced poetic overtones, the refreshing language of common people, high dramatic elements, and unwavering opposition to communist rule or any kind of totalitarianism. In other ways they differ. Most of the tales deal with the same subject matter: the struggle of the Montenegrins against such intruders as the Turks, the Italians, and the Germans, as well as the struggle of one segment of the society against another.

The brutal civil war between the partisans and the nationalists occupies a prominent place in almost all the stories here, and they present a stark contrast to the usual approach to the civil war, which is invariably one-sided and flattering to the partisans. In contributing to the process of letting the other side be heard more frequently in the last few years, Bojic's stories assist considerably in the emergence of the truth. Even an attempt to create a mystery story of sorts - in "Kum" (Godfather) - ends up along the same lines: a former partisan officer surreptitiously kills a man, an artist and a spiritually inclined nationalist who was pressed into that duty in a monastery, because there was no one else available. The only story not touching on the civil war and the extended domestic conflict is "Elisa," which takes place in the USA and, as such, arouses interest of a different kind.

By far the most impressive - and longest - story is "Starac Rasko" (Old Man Rasko), which could easily pass for a short novel. Rasko resembles the elderly Stanoja from Bojics magnum opus, the novel Orlovska gnijezda (The Nest of Eagles). Both men witness the horrible events befalling the Montenegrins in World War II, comment on them in their own way, and place the blame unmistakably on the communists. Rasko seems to be more resourceful and more aware of the nature of the struggle, but they are both basically good men with a strong sense of values, including honesty and stoicism. By expressing their views, the author passes judgment on the entire period and sheds light on many misrepresentations of history. In this sense, the stories in Sudbine have more than purely artistic value. Their artistic value, nevertheless, is considerable, placing Veljko Bojic among the most significant of Serbian writers in the diaspora.

Vasa D. Mihailovich University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill