Tamna strana
Short prose pieces on the border between fiction and poetry explore emotional uncertainty, inner contradictions and the fear of losing oneself through compressed, lyrical writing.
Tamna strana (The Dark Side), Snežana Bukal’s first story collection, appeared in 1986. Arranged in three sections, its short prose pieces combine lyrical sensitivity with compressed storytelling. The emphasis falls on inner experience, emotional shifts and tensions that resist straightforward expression.
The opening section, Pomeranje središta srca, explores feeling through contrasts and contradictions. Emotion unsettles reason, while opposing images allow meanings to coexist. In the second section, Strah od gubljenja duše, the writing moves towards poetic miniatures, concentrating its effects in brief images and suggestions.
The boundary between story and poem remains open. Rather than relying solely on narrative development, the pieces invite attention to language, the movement of feeling and connections left unstated. Their brevity makes the relationship between experience and expression especially important.
This debut introduces Bukal’s interest in concise, poetically shaped prose. It offers readers of short fiction and prose miniatures an early encounter with a writer concerned with the uncertainties and contradictions of inward life.
One copy is available
