Vježbanje života
Nedjeljko Fabrio’s monumental historical novel follows the fate of the Desković family from Rijeka over the course of a century (1848–1948), intertwining personal dramas with the dramatic shifts in political regimes and national identities.
The novel Vježbanje života (Practicing Life) is one of the most significant works of contemporary Croatian prose and the central component of Fabrio’s major Rijeka trilogy. The narrative is set in Rijeka (Fiume)—a distinct, multicultural space at the crossroads of Italian, Croatian, Central European, and Mediterranean influences—which serves as a microcosm where the destinies of ordinary people and great empires collide. Through a gallery of characters from the Desković family (along with associated families such as the Schwarzes and others), Fabrio dissects the processes of Germanization, Magyarization, Italianization, and Yugoslav unitarism. The "practicing of life" mentioned in the title is, in essence, a painful and continuous process of adaptation, survival, and the preservation of one’s own dignity under the weight of foreign ideologies, flags, and regimes. In terms of narrative, the novel is exceptionally rich and stylistically superior, blending the precision of a chronicle with essayistic interludes, linguistic pluralism, and profound psychological characterization. Fabrio masterfully illustrates how the tides of history crush individuals, while Rijeka emerges as a symbol of a tragic and turbulent Central European destiny.
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