Pokošeno polje

The novel is divided into two parts: the first is an autobiographical account of the war-torn childhood and family of the protagonist (Ćosić's own fate from World War I), the second depicts the moral and social collapse of post-war Yugoslavia, corruption, existential crisis and the meaninglessness of life. A tragic, introspective portrait of a generation broken by war and times of crisis.

Branimir Ćosić, born in the village of Štitar near Šabac, studied philosophy and law in Belgrade, worked as a journalist and literary critic (Politika, Vreme), belongs to the generation of Serbian writers between the two wars – realist-expressionist, with elements of social criticism and existential melancholy. He died young of tuberculosis, leaving behind a limited oeuvre: the novels Vrzino kolo (1927), Mrtvi se vraćaju (1930), collections of stories and essays, but Pokosena polja is considered his peak and most mature work.

The novel was first published in 1933 by Geca Kon. It consists of two parts:

• The first part - autobiographical, lyrical and intimate: shows the childhood and youth of the main character (clearly the writer's alter ego) in the whirlwind of the First World War - hunger, misery, loss of family, village destroyed, moral shock. This is the "mown field" of life – a metaphor for a ruined youth and generation.
• The second part – a broader social novel: the hero in post-war Belgrade faces corruption, bureaucracy, false intelligence, existential emptiness, the impossibility of love and meaning. The characters are typical of interwar literature: failed intellectuals, cynics, opportunists. The style is psychologically deep, with introspection, fragmentary storytelling and sharp social observations.

The work is a critique of post-war Yugoslavia - decadence, loss of ideals, meaninglessness - similar to the motifs of Crnjanski (Migration), Andrić or Kočić, but with a stronger autobiographical and intimate tone. The title symbolizes a destroyed generation, "mown down" by war and time.