The Subversiveness of Post-Yugoslav Women’s Essayism and Žensko Pismo (Women’s Writing): Focusing on the War Essays of Dubravka Ugrešić and Slavenka Drakulić

Abstract

The main idea expressed in the essays of Dubravka Ugrešić (1949–2023) and Slavenka Drakulić (1949–2026), two representative figures of contemporary Croatian literature, is feminist thought grounded in anti-nationalist and cosmopolitan values. The essayistic work of Ugrešić and Drakulić synthesizes a perspective that emphasizes the transgressive, disruptive, emancipatory, and heterogeneous nature of ‘écriture féminine’ (žensko pismo) with one that underscores its anti-essentialist and contextual aspects. Through this synthesis, both authors share the goal of capturing the multifaceted political and social dimensions of female existence within the specific historical realities of the dissolution of Yugoslavia and the post-communist world. However, their differences are primarily methodological: while Drakulić prioritizes a vivid immediacy akin to literary journalism, emphasizing the expression of bodily experiences, Ugrešić concentrates on the deconstruction of nationalist history and patriarchal culture through postmodern narratives and ideological analysis. Ultimately, for Ugrešić and Drakulić, ‘écriture féminine’ functions as a form of “transgressive writing.” Through avant-garde and non-traditional literary forms, this writing dismantles the patriarchal logic of Western Balkan societies and seeks social resonance by inscribing the fates of oppressed and marginalized minorities into their texts.