Labirintski znakovni svijet u fantastičnoj prozi Lađa od vode Pavla Pavličića

SIGNS OF A LABYRINTH IN THE FANTASTIC SHORT STORY COLLECTION LAĐA OD VODE (BOAT MADE OF WATER) BY PAVAO PAVLIČIĆ Since the new edition of Pavličić’s short story collection Lađa od vode (Boat Made of Water) was relatively recently published under the auspices of the art collective that bears the same title as Pavličić’s collection, it is worthwhile to examine the most significant narrative devices of this work, that originally appeared in 1972, alongside some other important Yugoslav fantasy works (Zavjera kartografa/Conspiracy of the Cartographers by Goran Tribuson; Talhe ili Šedrvanski vrt/Talha or the Shadirvan Garden by Irfan Horozović; Noćni fijaker/Nocturnal Hansom Cab by Vlado Urošević). As a collection of fantastic prose, Boat Made of Water brings together a series of poetic devices that could be termed as mysterious, mystical and irrational. Pavličić sees a literary work as a linguistic sign. He problematizes communication, the system of signs and the possibility of a dialogue with the reader. This paper points out the importance features of his work whose reception has been ongoing for the past almost thirty years. In that regard, the collection is discussed as a literary paradigm of postmodernist fantasy.