To Read, to Listen, to Understand, or: How to Recollect Yourself in Text

The paper offers an analytical approach to Eliezer Papo’s book Nesabrane priče i još nesabranije misli i crtice, a o десетерцу da se i ne govori [Uncollected Stories and Even More Uncollected Thoughts and Lines, Not to Mention Decasyllabic Verse] (2022), a notable addition to the corpus of Jewish literature written in the Serbian language. The study explores key themes such as the inauguration of canonicity, the limits of the oral and written literary mode, the status of the author, the discourse of nostalgia, and the author’s rejection of diasporic perspectives as the only possible perspective. The author textualizes these questions with baroque linguistic stylization, reflecting his search for words that carry stable meaning and his commitment to the concept of truth. By employing a range of hermeneutic tools, this analysis highlights a new phase in the rich and dynamic history of Jewish literature in the Balkans.