Ćosić Dobrica: Vreme smrti I-IV

Dobrica Ćosić: Time of Death I-IV

A work that bears witness with inestimable power to where we started in the 20th century and how we ended it. The Time of Death is a monument to the Serbian people who died in the Great War.

Book I: Prerovo Goes to War

In the first part of this novel, Ćosić introduces readers to the preludes of the First World War, the political and military turmoil in Europe and the mood of the Serbian Government, army and people at the moment of general mobilization due to the Austro-Hungarian declaration of war. Introducing us to the Katic family from Prerov, the main protagonists of this war epic, the author interweaves their destinies against the background of turning points that determined the fate of the Serbian people exactly one hundred years ago: a small country in the heart of the Balkans is engulfed in a general whirlwind of war in which its inhabitants will experience perhaps the brightest and most tragic moments in their recent history...

Book II: The Battle of Suvoborska

The year is 1914. The numerical superiority and better armed equipment of the Austro-Hungarian army forces the demoralized and defeated Serbian army to withdraw from the Suvobor front. The commander of the First Army, General Živojin Mišić, clashes with the Supreme Command and the heir to the throne over the decision to withdraw the army to Milanovac and quickly prepare for a decisive counterattack that would surprise the enemy. The final outcome of the most famous and most significant battle between the Kingdom of Serbia and Austria-Hungary in the First World War, known in history as the Battle of Kolubar, is extremely uncertain...

Book III: The Valjevska Hospital

The most artistically successful and intellectually profound, the third part of Time of Death, is set in the Valjevska War Hospital, a symbol of human sacrifice, humanity and agony during the First World War and the main reception center for Serbian Serbs soldiers, wounded and a large number of refugees and prisoners who fell ill from the typhus epidemic. literature.

Book IV: Exodus

The last part of the Time of Death describes the climax of the collective drama of a nation, following in parallel the heroic defense and fall of Belgrade into Austro-Hungarian hands, the betrayal of allies and the unprecedented exodus of the Serbian army, on a mosaic scale, and the retreat of the Serbian army across the Albanian mountains.

All that remains is hope and faith in returning to the homeland...