Radoje Domanović's satire often lets a community manufacture evidence for what it already wants to believe. In this passage from Вођа (The Leader), silence becomes "wisdom," an obstacle becomes "guidance," and ordinary demonstratives help a crowd point away from visible reality.
Source and Editorial Layers
The two complete short excerpts below follow the public-domain Wikisource transcription of Domanović's 1901 satire Вођа, specifically the scene in which the chosen leader begins the journey. The quotation preserves the witness's contracted овак’а, colloquial particles, aorists, and narrator–dialogue contrast; quotation marks and the apostrophe glyph are regularized typographically.
Source text quotes that digital witness. Modernized reading expands marked forms while retaining the proposition. Interpretive paraphrase makes irony explicit. These layers are not interchangeable.
Two Complete Short Excerpts and Translation
The first three blocks reproduce one continuous exchange. The following four reproduce the later fence episode continuously; the intervening departure preparations are omitted here rather than silently spliced into either quotation.
— Море, срећни смо те наиђосмо на овак’а човека, а да смо без њега пошли, не дао бог, зло и наопако, пропали бисмо! То је памет, мој брате! Само ћути, речи још није проговорио! — рећи ће један, па погледа са страхопоштовањем и поносом у вођу.
'Why, we're lucky to have come across a man like this; if we had set off without him—God forbid—it would have been a disaster, we would have perished! Now that is wisdom, my friend! He only keeps quiet; he hasn't said a word yet!' one of them says, then looks at the leader with awe and pride.
— Шта има да говори? Ко говори тај мало што мисли. Мудар човек, разуме се, па само ћути и нешто мисли!.. — додаде други, па и он са страхопоштовањем погледа вођу.
'What is there for him to say? A person who talks does little thinking. A wise man, of course—he just stays quiet and thinks about something!' added another, and he too looked at the leader with awe.
— Па, оно, није ни лако водити оволики свет! И мора да мисли кад је примио на себе толику дужност! — опет ће први.
'Well, you know, it isn't easy to lead this many people! He must be thinking, since he has taken such a great responsibility upon himself!' the first man says again.
Вођа својски намрштен, оборене главе, коракну неколико пута, машући достојанствено штапом испред себе, а маса крете за њим и викну неколико пута: „Живео!“
The leader, thoroughly frowning and with head bowed, took several steps, waving his stick solemnly in front of him; the crowd moved after him and shouted several times, 'Long live the leader!'
Вођа коракну још неколико корака и удари у плот од општинске зграде. Ту, наравно, стаде он, стаде маса. Вођ измаче мало и лупи два-трипут штапом по плоту.
The leader took a few more steps and walked into the fence around the municipal building. There, naturally, he stopped—and the crowd stopped too. The leader shifted slightly and struck the fence two or three times with his stick.
— Шта ћемо? — питају. Он ћути.
'What shall we do?' they ask. He remains silent.
— Шта: шта ћемо? Обаљуј плот! То ћемо! Видиш да човек даје штапом знак шта треба радити!
'What do you mean, what shall we do? Tear down the fence! That's what we'll do! You can see the man is signaling with his stick what must be done!'
The English avoids an impossible word-for-word mapping. Море is a discourse particle (informal/regional), not sea. Оволики свет means this many people, not such a big world. Живео! is a formulaic acclamation, idiomatically Long live…!
Line-by-Line Grammar
1. A counterfactual becomes invented proof
The first speaker says да смо без њега пошли … пропали бисмо: да + perfect in the protasis and conditional бисмо in the result. It describes an unreal past. Nothing proves that they would have perished; the counterfactual manufactures a flattering alternative history.
Не дао бог is a fossilized optative formula: the perfective past-active participle дао appears with не to reject an imagined event. It is current as a set phrase, though the surrounding зло и наопако is highly expressive (informal).
Да смо пошли сами, вероватно бисмо брже нашли пут.
If we had set off alone, we would probably have found the road faster.
That modern counterfactual reverses the crowd's assumption while keeping the same grammar.
2. Demonstratives build a shared viewpoint
Овак’а човека represents contracted оваква човека. The genitive-looking masculine animate form човека is accusative singular because it is the object of наиђосмо на and denotes a person. Оваква means a man of this kind, evaluated from the speakers' shared stance.
The series овак’а — оволики — толику — то creates a pointing network:
| Form | Reference in context | Pragmatic effect |
|---|---|---|
| овак’а човека | a man "like this" | admiring category, assumed rather than proved |
| оволики свет | this large crowd | makes the task sound immense |
| толику дужност | such a great responsibility | inflates the leader's role |
| то ћемо | the proposed fence demolition | turns interpretation into decision |
English demonstratives often merely locate. Serbian demonstratives also package evaluation and discourse distance; here they help the group treat its own interpretation as visible fact.
3. Rhetorical questions suppress doubt
Шта има да говори? is not a sincere request for a list. It means that speech is unnecessary. The following generic Ко говори тај мало што мисли supplies the alleged principle: whoever talks thinks little. In contemporary neutral prose, мало мисли would be simpler; мало што мисли is an older/marked quantificational pattern in this witness.
Later, Шта: шта ћемо? echoes another person's uncertainty and rejects it. The colon marks a sharp repetition in the source witness. The speaker replaces deliberation with the imperative Обаљуј плот! The imperative is singular even though the crowd will act; it functions like a shouted command to whoever is able to begin.
Шта има да чекамо кад су врата већ отворена?
Why wait when the doors are already open?
Outside satire, that construction can be an ordinary rhetorical question. Context, not morphology alone, creates irony.
4. Reported speech and narrative tense
The narrator alternates historical presents or future-like reporting formulas (рећи ће један, опет ће први) with aorists (додаде, коракну, крете, викну, стаде, измаче, лупи). Рећи ће does not predict a future utterance here; it introduces a speech turn (literary), similar to one man says. Translating it as will say later would break the sequence.
The chain of aorists gives bounded foreground events. The leader steps, hits, and stops; the crowd follows. In neutral contemporary retelling, the perfect is natural:
Вођа је направио неколико корака, ударио у ограду и стао.
The leader took a few steps, walked into the fence, and stopped.
The perfect reports the same events but loses the compact literary pulse. See aorist and imperfect stylistics for the wider register system.
How the Irony Works
The narrator never writes "these people are foolish." Instead, наравно in Ту, наравно, стаде он briefly aligns with physical reality: anyone who hits a fence stops. The crowd then redescribes that collision as a deliberate signal. Their formal praise—памет, мудар човек, толику дужност, достојанствено—contrasts with colloquial reasoning—море, па оно, шта: шта ћемо?
Silence is radically ambiguous. It could mark thought, fear, ignorance, or inability. The followers resolve that ambiguity in advance: every silence proves wisdom. The satire therefore depends on reported interpretation, not on a secret lexical meaning of ћутати.
Common Mistakes
Translating море literally
❌ „Море“ овде значи Јадранско море.
Incorrect—here море attracts the listener's attention; it does not denote a body of water.
✅ „Море“ овде појачава почетак реплике.
Here, море adds force to the beginning of the utterance.
Treating narrative ће as later future time
❌ Први човек ће то рећи тек касније.
Incorrect—рећи ће један introduces his current turn in this passage, not a later prediction.
✅ Формула „рећи ће један“ овде значи приближно „каже један“ или „рече један“.
Here, the formula рећи ће један means approximately 'one man says' or 'one man said.'
Making the aorist obligatory in ordinary retelling
❌ У свакодневном препричавању морам рећи: „Коракну, удари и стаде.“
Incorrect—the aorist is not grammatically required; a perfect retelling is normal.
✅ У неутралном препричавању: „Коракнуо је, ударио у ограду и стао.“
In a neutral retelling: 'He took a step, walked into the fence, and stopped.'
Mistaking praise for the narrator's judgment
❌ Приповедач потврђује да је вођа мудар јер ћути.
Incorrect—the followers say this, while the narrated collision undermines their judgment.
✅ Ликови тишину називају мудрошћу, а догађај показује колико је то тумачење опасно.
The characters call silence wisdom, while the event shows how dangerous that interpretation is.
Key Takeaways
- Counterfactual да смо… пропали бисмо invents a flattering history rather than proving one.
- Demonstratives align the crowd around its own interpretation of the leader.
- Reporting рећи ће introduces a present speech turn in this narrative frame.
- The aorist chain foregrounds collisions and decisions; the narrator's consequences expose the praise as irony.
Reuse Exercises
- Underline every demonstrative expression in the passage. State what each one points to and what evaluation it smuggles into the description.
- Rewrite all aorists in the last three examples with the perfect. Preserve aspect and agreement, then compare the pacing of the two versions.
- Convert the first three direct-speech turns into reported speech beginning Један човек је рекао да… Decide which particles and exclamations cannot be carried over mechanically.
Domanović's grammar is not ornamental. Counterfactuals invent certainty, demonstratives create group alignment, rhetorical questions close debate, and literary reporting forms let absurdity unfold with apparent composure.
Related Topics
- Literary SerbianC1 — A focused guide to literary serbian in Serbian.
- Indirect and Rhetorical QuestionsB1 — Embedded questions with li/da li and rhetorical zar.
- Demonstratives: ovaj, taj, onajA1 — The three-way this/that/that-yonder deixis.
- Reported (Indirect) SpeechB1 — Reporting statements/questions with no tense backshift.
- Focus, Contrast, and Final PositionB2 — A focused guide to focus, contrast, and final position in Serbian.