O FIGURI ODSUTNOG BRATA U ROMANIMA „UHVATI ZECA“ LANE BASTAŠIĆ I „ADIO, KAUBOJU“ OLjE SAVIČEVIĆ IVANČEVIĆ

The subject of this paper is the reading of inserted stories about brothers in the novels Catch the Rabbit by Lana Bastašić and Adio, cowboy by Olja Savičević Ivančević, with special reference to the topic of presence in absence through traces. This specific type of presence is manifested through the narrative elusiveness of literary heroes, so they are present even when they are certainly absent and vice versa. When it comes to the novel Catch the Rabbit, the position of the so-called false protagonist is examined, while in the final chapter of the paper, using a comparative approach, it is pointed out the most important thematic-motive links that connect the two novels, and which mostly relate to the figure of the absent brother as the central.