Even in the world of fiction, it would be unusual for a
European country to experience the war at the end of 20th century, fall apart
and disappear. This exactly happens in Josip Novakovich’s novel April Fool's
Day. It is a Bildungsroman about life, death and the afterlife of Ivan Dolinar, a
Croatian citizen of Yugoslavia, whose life undergoes unbelievable twists and
changes as the social and political situation in the country deteriorates until it
falls apart and a new homeland, Republic of Croatia, is formed. On the basis of
historical facts, the author develops a story about a fictional hero, who himself
is a personified disintegrated country: the instability of the main character shows the instability of the state. During his life, driven by the fate and historical forces, Ivan becomes a political prisoner, a murderer, a rapist, an adulterer, a thief and finally, a ghost. Only when considered dead, he can be a master of his life. Ivan Dolinar finds harmony in his afterlife: as a ghost he is liberated from all the living inherences, in his death he feels free, important and unique, what he did not succeed during his living days. The novel is simultaneously a war and a ghost story with strong satirical impulse and black humour targeted towards human vanity and imperfection, lust, hatred and
absurdity of war in general. The aim of this paper is to explore the interconnection between the fact and fiction in the novel, which intended to be, according to Novakovich, “an obituary to Yugoslavia in a personal form“. This fictional story that
describes details about life and death of Ivan Dolinar is a story of a war-torn
country which can only live in the form of a ghost until it completely
disappears from our minds.
FACT AND FICTION IN JOSIP NOVAKOVICH'S APRIL FOOL'S DAY: AN OBITUARY TO A DEAD COUNTRY
