Rabies marks a significant departure from Pekić’s earlier work, which had mainly dealt with historical themes. His literary corpus includes numerous novels and novellas- although the distinction between the two is not always clear. Works such as Time of Miracles (Vreme Čuda, 1965), The Pilgrimage of Arsenije Njegovan (Hodočašće Arsenija Njegovana, 1970), The Rise and Fall of Icarus Gubelkian (Uspenje i sunovrat Ikara Gubelkijana, 1975), The Apology/Defence and the Last Days (Obrana i poslednji dani, 1977), How to Quiet a Vampire (Kako upokojiti vampire, 1977), The Golden Fleece (Zlatno runo, 1978–86), Rabies (Besnilo, 1983), Atlantis (Atlantida, 1988) and 1999 (1989) demonstrate his stylistic range and thematic complexity. Pekić is often associated with the postmodern or even proto-postmodern Serbian literature of the 1960s and 1970s. Scholarly interest centres on topics such as intertextuality, poetic principles, the role of documents, the grotesque and the biblical subtext. Among the various critical approaches, Pekić’s oeuvre has often been interpreted through the lens of postmodern poetics. One of these analyses focuses on metafiction - generally considered a hallmark of postmodernism – as a productive starting point. Based on the idea of metafiction as a “borderline discourse” that operates between fiction and criticism, the threshold is emphasised as a generative space within literary modernism, postmodernism and theory. In Rabies, this metafictional approach shapes both the structural organisation and the thematic complexity of the novel.

The novel consists of six compact, chronologically organised sections, framed by a prologue (Rhabdovirus) and an epilogue (Incubation), which correspond to the phases of the course of the disease. Each section begins with a motto that subtly anticipates the most important themes and events. These semantically charged text frames play a decisive role in the composition. The prologue is preceded by a note from the narrator, who later reveals himself to be the editor of a manuscript by his deceased friend Daniel Leverquin. The narrative begins at Heathrow Airport and is told from Leverquin’s perspective- a logical choice as the novel is built around his diary. Internally, the novel follows a montage principle, interweaving multiple perspectives and storylines in fifteen narrative strands, each tied to a specific character or group. These include a murder investigation led by police sergeant Elmer, a love story between Abner (a Polish Jew) and Miriam (a young Palestinian woman), Professor Lieberman, a former Nazi involved in human experimentation, Cold War spies Donovan and Rasimov, Dr Luke Komarowski, Gabriel and Sue (as Theseus and Ariadne) and others. The novel frequently changes narrative focus and perspective and uses free indirect discourse to convey the inner thoughts and anxieties of its characters. Like a kaleidoscope, the narrative threads and perspectives constantly change within the spatial and temporal boundaries of Heathrow, which becomes a quarantine zone as the virus spreads. In addition to the complexity of the narrative structure and the changes in perspective, almost every narrative thread and every change of focus brings with it a corresponding shift in genre. This montage structure heightens the narrative tension by presenting events not as a unified whole, but through fragmented narrative “cuts” that mirror the accelerating crisis. The infected characters revert to an animalistic, dog-like state, reinforcing the importance of the intelligent virus introduced in Lieberman’s prologue, which at one point acts as one of the narrative focalisers itself. Rabies can be read as a kaleidoscopic genre construct. It mixes elements of science fiction, crime thriller, romance, spy thriller and horror. The narrator’s use of the term “paraliterary genre” suggests a fluid genre structure that adapts and mutates to the demands of the Story.

The political dimension of the novel does not result from an obvious thematic content, but from its complex formal structure. The meaning is broken up by changing narrative voices, temporal disjunctions and textual ambiguities. Instead of making a direct political commentary, the text presents scattered and often ambiguous gestures that invite critical debate. Its kaleidoscopic narrative mechanism enables a reconfiguration of the political that is immanent to the discursive operations of the text - a questioning of how the political is mediated and made legible through literary form. Rabies is therefore an example of literature’s ability to articulate the political not as an externally imposed category, but as an integral part of its narrative and structural logic.

References:

Currie, Mark. ed. 2014. Metafiction. Routledge: New York.

Hutcheon, Linda 1980. Narcisstic Narrative: The Metafictional Paradox. Wilfrid Laurier University Press: Waterloo.

Kalezić, Sofija 2019. “Pekićeva naučnofantastična distopija.” Matica crnoogorska No. 78: 225-252.

Lukić, Jasmina 2001. Metaproza: čitanje žanra. Borislav Pekić i postmoderna poetika. Stubovi kulture: Beograd.

Mišković, Sanja 2008. “Postmodernistički okvir Pekićevih tekstova.” Lingua Montenegrina No. 2: 145-166.

Pekić, Borislav 1985. Besnilo. Beogradski izdavačko-grafički zavod: Beograd.

Pekić B: Vreme reči. Beograd: Srpska književna zadruga, 1993.

Rosmarin A: The Power of Genre. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1985.

Sekulović, Maja 2017. “Poetika Pekićeva žanr-romana Besnilo.” Slavistična revija, Vol. 65 No.2: 323-339.

Tatarenko, Alla 2013: Poetika forme u prozi srpskog postmodernizma. Beograd: Službeni glasnik.

Vojinović, Sanja 2010. Kodovi Borislava Pekića. Institut za crnogorski jezik i jezikoslovlje: Podgorica.