From «Earth Spirits» - 2026 (NARRATIVA) ~ di Sibila Petlevski - TECLAXXI

 NARRATIVA

 

Sibila Petlevski

 

from Earth Spirits

(translation in English of Duhovi zemlje,

Sandorf, 2026) by the author

 

In Sibila Petlevski's polyphonic novel Earth Spirits, Duhovi zemlje, Sandorf, 2026, the author interweaves mythical history, magical realism, and historical document to speak about cyclical violence, sacrifice, and women's emancipation across different spaces (Zagreb during the NDH era and contemporary Bolivia). In the structure of the novel, the author uses the biblical and apocalyptic motif of the Yahweh Wars and the concept of the seven spirits (which in the theological context denote the fullness of God's spirit, but also the cosmic forces responsible for overseeing the earth) to portray the history of humanity as a permanent, bloody battlefield of ideologies, religions, and colonialism. Earth Spirits is a novel-saga about heroines of dark times in a space immersed in a bloody conflict between different religions and politics. Zagreb during the NDH period is depicted in the novel as a dystopian city under the rule of Ustasha terror. The author emphasizes the ideological dark side of that era through the motif of torture chambers. The author connects the fates in Zagreb's Ustasha torture chambers with South American myths and mining deities (such as El Tío - the demonic protector of mines), creating a parallel between colonial oppression in Bolivia and fascist terror in Europe. The work brilliantly combines family history, Zagreb's war tragedy and exotic surroundings into a single whole.

 

In this novel there is the true story of Zdenka Baković (24 years old, seamstress born in Bolivia). She is arrested by the Ustaše. Suspected of aiding the resistance, she ends up on the third floor of Zvonimirova 2.  They do not ask for justice. They ask for names. She chooses silence. To the end.

 

Zvonimirova 2 - Ustaṧe interrogation center – Zagreb 1941

 

        The corridor smelled of wet concrete and carbon paper. A single bulb swung above the steel door. Number 12. Under the paint, someone had scratched a date: 12. VIII.1941. Zdenka sat on the edge of the wooden bench. Hands on her knees. She counted the cracks in the ceiling. One, two, three. She did not look at the guard. The key turned in the lock. Once. Then again. Footsteps stopped outside. A shadow slid under the door and stayed there. Too long. A file dropped on the table inside. The sound was dry, final. Someone coughed. Not a question. An answer waiting.

“Name?” 

“Zdenka Baković.” 

“Born?” 

“Cochabamba, Bolivia. 1917.” 

The man at the table writes slowly. The one by the window does not turn. 

“Why did you come back?” 

“To work. To sew.” 

“To carry messages.” 

“No.” 

The lamp burns her eyes. The questions come again, same words, different order. Time stretches. 

Coffee arrives. Surrogate. Bitter. She does not drink. 

“You will sing to us!” 

“Non so. Non dirò nulla. Fino in fondo.”  [in Italian]

The slap lands. The chair rocks. The snow keeps falling on Zagreb, covering the footprints, covering the names. 

The file stayed closed. The questions were not questions. They were nails. Zdenka closed her eyes. She thought of the river. Not the water. The sound it made at night. She closed her eyes. No prayer came. Only the word “enough”. She stood. The bench scraped the floor. One step. Two. The window glass was cold against her palm.

 [...]

 Zagreb, courtyard below Zvonimirova 2, 12. VIII.1941

They found her three floors down. The date on the door stayed clean: 12. VIII.1941. The bulb kept swinging above Number 12, empty now. The guard stopped coughing. The bulb above Number 12 stopped swinging. For a moment the corridor was not a corridor. The concrete was not concrete. Zdenka was not on the bench anymore. When the guard opened the door, the room was empty. Only the date stayed: 12. VIII.1941.

 ____________________

SIBILA PETLEVSKI

 BIONOTA

Sibila Petlevski, born on May 11, 1964 in Zagreb, is an award-winning novelist, poet and playwright, librettist, literary translator and editor of literary and scientific publications, researcher in the field of theater and interdisciplinary science, full professor at the University of Zagreb. She has written twenty-five books of different literary and scientific genres, edited eight scientific books, and compiled and translated an anthology of American poetry.

 photo by ©David Gazarov