Zagrepčanka
Branislav Glumac published a novel without periods or commas in 1974, as the relentless stream of thought of a young rebel. Published in socialist Yugoslavia, the work caused a scandal with its openness and became a classic about generational rebellion.
Marijana, the daughter of a respected head of a gynecological clinic, raised in the false splendor of the Zagreb elite, rejects everything: her medical training, her family's hypocrisy, the patriarchal order. She becomes an escort lady, a night butterfly who charges her father's rich acquaintances with passion - judges, doctors, politicians. Zagreb becomes her hunting ground: clubs, hotels, hidden rooms full of lust and secrets. She sleeps with older men, seeking in them the freedom that the world denies her, but each encounter is a deep wound - a mixture of euphoria and shame.
Her long-time lover Lujo, matured and gentle, tries to save her, but his death destroys her fragile world. Vanja, a rough worker from the Vjesnik printing house, enters like a wind of change: true, raw love that smells of street life and a socialist dream. However, the key moment comes when Marijana, pregnant by a client, comes to her father for an abortion - a moment of subversion where the elites collapse in hypocrisy. Life leads her through a labyrinth of emotions: anger at her parents, hunger for freedom, deep depression. In the end, Glumac buries her in hopelessness – with no savior, only with cracks in her soul that will not heal.
The book expresses rebellion against the socialist norm, advocates promiscuity as a weapon against hypocrisy, and describes the trauma of living in a city of lies. Glumac sheds light on female sexuality in a man’s world, where freedom costs souls. If you want to feel the pulse of Zagreb in the 70s – raw, unfiltered – this is a novel that swallows you up and spits you out changed. Editions are rare, but worth seeking out!
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