THE REPRESENTATION OF GENDER IN POEM COLLECTION MOJA MAMA ZNA ŠTA SE DEŠAVA U GRADOVIMA BY RADMILA PETROVIĆ

Abstract

In this paper, the poem collection “Moja mama zna šta se dešava u gradovima” (My Mom Knows What's Happening in Cities) by young poetess Radmila Petrović is being researched through analysing elements which shape gender identity and roles of lyrical subject. The third poem collection by Radmila Petrović was in the center of attention of Serbian readership at the beginning of the third decade of the 21st century because it appeared as innovative in terms of perspective, themes and motifs. There is an important difference between this poem collection and the previous two collections, “Miris zemlje” (The Scent of Earth) and “Celulozni rokenrol” (Cellulose Rock'n'roll). It can be found in thematization of the issue of gender and sex, determined by the context of the village-city opposition. The concept of gender and sex, as the basic denominators by which we can define the sexual identity of a lyrical subject, are connected with the attitude towards tradition, patriarchy, fashion, make-up, but also politics. As such, they prove to be some of the basic concepts for understanding the poetic world that Radmila Petrović builds in this collection. Therefor, three central segments of the paper examine the motif of cosmetics, the motif of lesbianism and the role of the mother figure. The main aim of the paper is to offer a contribution to the scientific study of the poetry of the younger generation of Serbian 21st century poets.