Echoes of war : former Yugoslavs in "The ministry of pain" by Dubravka Ugrešić

In the article author analyses the emigration and exile of former Yugoslavs and their process of adaptation shown in The Ministry of Pain by Dubravka Ugrešić. Tanja Lucić, the main character in the novel, starts to teach at a university in Amsterdam, where she meets her compatriots, who have run away from war, too. Together they recollect memories and talk about problems with defining their identity, homeland, language and nationality in the context of the division of Yugoslavia. The other important aspect is the topic of their new situation in the foreign country: emotions connected with the exile and attempts at accepting new situation. The war has influenced all of these problems. Ugrešić shows it to the reader from the insider perspective. The article analyses the picture of the Yugoslavian immigrants taking into consideration all the complexities of their situation