THE EROSION OF DRAMA FORMS BY EPIC ELEMENTS IN KRLEM’S LEGENDS

The inner crisis of drama forms in the literary output of M. Krleza led to the formation of some new and interesting forms. The old shape of the classical drama form cannot stand the burden of the new contents and themes, it falls to pieces and reveals epic features. Krleza’s Legends do not follow the basic drama principle — reproduction of relations among people caused by the author’s choice of dramatis personae. Introducing historical and symbolic personages breaks the principle of independence — the truthfulness of /the/ drama, because it implies its relation to history and presupposes the existence of the person quoting. Fictitious dialogue is deprived of dramatic progression. Antithetic personages play the role of the epic subject. The epic subject that creates and describes the presented world of the work is found in stage directions. Aware of these and other facts, the author endeavours in various ways and with various results to prevail the conflict between the substantial and formal expression