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This article focuses on problems of the phenomenon of evil in contemporary literary texts from Croatian, Serbian and Korean corpus. The emphasis is on the interpretation and reconstruction of the phenomenon of evil and study of difference in approaching the problem in modern and postmodern texts. In contextual frame, very important are the problems of relation between margin and centre, namely the questions of genealogy and poetics as important discursive issues of a diachronic approach to literature. Also considered is the topic of “small”, marginal literatures in their dynamic relationship towards the “centre”. Authors considered in the interpretative part of the article are Josip MlakiÊ and Luka Bekavac from Croatian corpus ; Hang Kang and Young-ha Kim from Korean ; and Filip David and –ore LeboviÊ from Jewish Serbian corpus. The article’s hypothesis is that there are two paradigms that coexist in contemporary culture: one is focused on preserving the memory (and is related to modernist poetics) and the other one on poetics of forgetting (which is the post-modern approach). In the article the author further argues that the neo-modernistic poetics (of reconstructing the memory and constructing a historical collectiveness) is in many respects re-introducing the idea of “world literature” and the new dynamics of “uneven development” of the global understanding of the idea of literature.

When Night Passes and When Day Breaks – Between the Past and the Present. Borderlines of Holocaust in Filip David’s Works The primary objective of the text is the analysis of Filip David's latest work. The Serbian writer is the author of the novel House of Memories and Oblivions ( Kuca secanja i zaborava , 2014), award for Best Novel of the Year by the NIN weekly ( Nedeljne Informativne Novine ). On the one hand, the output of this Serbian novelist is of interest to us as a continuation and representation of the contemporary discourse on the Holocaust in Serbia. On the other – we look at the literary realization of the Holocaust topic. The fortunes of the main characters in the novel (children who survived Holocaust) serve as the cases on which we present where the author draws the borderline of the ever-present Holocaust in their lives; how much and in what way the past affects their present; where the borderline of memory, forgetting and oblivion is. Kad padne noc i Kad svane dan - miedzy przeszlością a teraźniejszością. Granice Holocaustu w tworczości Filipa Davida Podstawowym celem tekstu jest analiza najnowszej tworczości Filipa Davida, autora nagrodzonej Nagrodą Tygodnika NIN („Nedeljne Informativne Novine") powieści Dom pamieci i zapomnienia (2014, Kuca secanja i zabovrava ). Z jednej strony tworczośc serbskiego prozaika interesowac nas bedzie jako kontynuacja i reprezentacja wspolczesnego dyskursu na temat Holokaustu w Serbii. Z drugiej zaś – przyjrzymy sie jego literackiej realizacji. Na przykladzie losow glownych bohaterow powieści (dzieci, ktore przezyly Zaglade) pokazemy, gdzie przebiega rysowana przez autora granica istnienia Shoah w ich zyciu. Na ile i w jaki sposob przeszlośc wplywa na ich teraźniejszośc, gdzie przebiega granica pamieci, niepamieci i zapomnienia oraz w jakim stopniu ich zycie definiuje rozdzielenie rzeczywistości od fikcji.

Podstawowym celem tekstu jest analiza najnowszej tworczości Filipa Davida, autora nagrodzonej Nagrodą Tygodnika NIN („Nedeljne Informativne Novine") powieści Dom pamięci i zapomnienia (2014, Kuća sećanja i zabovrava). Z jednej strony twórczość serbskiego prozaika interesować nas będzie jako kontynuacja i reprezentacja współczesnego dyskursu na temat Holokaustu w Serbii. Z drugiej zaś – przyjrzymy się jego literackiej realizacji. Na przykładzie losów głównych bohaterów powieści (dzieci, które przeżyły Zagładę) pokażemy, gdzie przebiega rysowana przez autora granica istnienia Shoah w ich życiu. Na ile i w jaki sposób przeszłość wpływa na ich teraźniejszość, gdzie przebiega granica pamięci, niepamięci i zapomnienia oraz w jakim stopniu ich życie definiuje rozdzielenie rzeczywistości od fikcji., The primary objective of the text is the analysis of Filip David's latest work. The Serbian writer is the author of the novel House of Memories and Oblivions (Kuća sećanja i zaborava, 2014), award for Best Novel of the Year by the NIN weekly (Nedeljne Informativne Novine). On the one hand, the output of this Serbian novelist is of interest to us as a continuation and representation of the contemporary discourse on the Holocaust in Serbia. On the other – we look at the literary realization of the Holocaust topic. The fortunes of the main characters in the novel (children who survived Holocaust) serve as the cases on which we present where the author draws the borderline of the ever-present Holocaust in their lives; how much and in what way the past affects their present; where the borderline of memory, forgetting and oblivion is.

The paper analyzes the diverse representations of silence. The starting point is the thesis assuming that the Serbian writer’s novel belongs to the category of Holocaust texts endeavoring to describe/transcribe trauma. Such an experience resists verbalization, and aporia is inscribed in the very attempt to transfer it via language. The subsequent sections of the article are devoted to the various modes of manifestations of silence/muteness in the novel. Among others, these are: the images of aphasia triggered by the dramatic experience (it is worth noticing here that the novel reuses its author’s autobiographical experiences); post-memory, which is directly connected to the broken communication stemming from the inability to surpass trauma; muteness, which firstly accompanies the prohibition to talk openly about the Jewish origins, and after the rescue touches upon the mystery of the “survivor’s” genuine identity. Silence/muteness appears in the novel also in reference to certain formal procedures: ellipses and blank spaces which force the receiver to specify them, and the consistently rising atmosphere which prefigures the sudden (or dramatic) change of action. Silence as a sound – or its absence, to be precise – becomes the foundation of the father’s (one of the protagonist’s) obsession with composing music that would reflect the Jews’ suffering and, consequently, become a proof for their existence. What is more, the paper deals with the issue of responsibility that stems from the passive attitude and the lack of activity which are linked to muteness in the time of the trial.