Overview of the Literary Output of prof. dr. Dragi Мihajlovski paper as an introduction speech to the public event Memory Tribute to the Character and Work of Prof. Dr. Dragi Mihajlovski (1951-2022)

Abstract

This paper under the title “Overview of the Literary Output of Prof. Dr. Dragi Mihajlovski” was given by Prof. Dr. Sonja Vitanova-Strezova as an introduction speech to the public event “Memory Tribute to the Character and Work of Prof. Dr. Dragi Mihajlovski (1951-2022)”, that took place on 15.06.2022. The work overviews Mihajlovski’s literary output, focusing on his fiction. Through defamiliarisation, a concept included in the title of Mihajlovski’s doctoral dissertation, Prof. Dr. Vitanova-Strezova introduces the author’s work and life in a unique way, discussing the writer’s nicknames and their meanings. The first nickname of Mihajlovski, given to him while he was in primary school, was “Dragi the Letter”, as he was writing the letters of the schoolboys to the girls they were in love with. At the same time, this nickname suggests Mihajlovski’s talent for writing as he grew up to become one of the most innovative writers who juxtaposes contemporary narrative techniques and the oral Macedonian folk tradition, especially Cepenkov’s storytelling model. Mihajlvski is also called “Macedonian Shakespeare”, as he translated into Macedonian, in the most creative way, 37 plays and 154 sonnets, written by Shakespeare. In addition, Vitanova-Strezova refers to Mihajlovski as a “Prophet” for he prophesied in his fiction the current political situation more than two decades ago. The author argues that Mihajlovski’s fiction is permeated by intertextual references to his own life, frequently juxtaposed with a series of texts from the life of another writer. Mihajlovski’s novels and short stories are especially pervaded by many references to the writer’s life in Bitola and Skopje. Vitanova-Strezova also argues that Mihajlovski creatively transposed intertextual references to the Macedonian, English and other literatures, as well as biblical references, into his own fiction that constantly multiplies and reconstructs meanings.