Giga Barićeva 1-3

The novel, originally published as a feuilleton Giga Barićeva i jenjenih sedam prosaca (1930–1931), is divided into three books: Sedam prosaca, Na ratištu, and Povratak. The main character, Giga Remetinečki, the intelligent and seductive daughter of a civil servant, marries Marko Barić at a young age, but the war separates them, and she believes he has been killed. Surrounded by seven suitors, Giga postpones her decision to marry, flirting in post-war Zagreb.

The novel explores her psychological complexity, social norms, and patriarchal pressures. Irina Aleksandrovna, a fortune teller whose success symbolizes social turmoil, appears. In the second part, the reality of war deepens Giga's loneliness, while the third part, Povratak, culminates with Marko's return, raising questions of jealousy and fidelity. The final chapter inspired the play Bez trečeg (Without the Third) (1931), which examines pathological jealousy.

Giga Barićeva is not only the most representative work of Milan Begović in terms of volume. As a central focus and starting point, it contains and emanates all of his thoughts and views on social problems, humanitarianism, tolerance and social criticism, a wealth of themes and motifs, stylistic and compositional procedures and writing technique in retrospect...