The Implicit Political Dimension of Gender Relations: Conceptual Intricacies of (Post)Yugoslavism in the Novels of Ana Đokić

This paper investigates issues related to female identity in the broader context of its relations to national identity, using two novels as examples, Ana Đokić\u27s Gordana među vrbama (Gordana amid Willows), and Recepti za sreću (Recipes for Good Fortune). Theoretical instruments are proposed for the investigation of gender-nation relations pointing to the phenomena of gendered nationhood and nationed gender, as well as to the traumatic consequences of such relations when contaminated by patriarchal aspects. The issues of Yugoslav identity viewed from within the post-Yugoslav frame is also addressed which raises the point of the missing or zero signifier, the effects of which undermine the stability of identity as ‘signified’ and induces trauma, as both novels reveal. A cognitive perspective is also applied to the two texts to provide a deeper understanding of the traumatic dimension of characters and of the therapeutic effects of the text itself, which in its totality assumes the position of the zero signifier