THE FIRST LADY (Prva dama)
This novel is a reworking, in minimalist style and condensed manner, of the Biblical story of the beautiful Bathsheba and King David. The king’s “controversial” wife is an archetypal femme fatale, who is aware of her charms also in an emancipatory sense and, regardless of the means and victims, in an almost mathematically calculating way exchanges them for a “better” life – marriage to the educated king loved by his people and through this a climb up the social ladder, a better position, and consequently better pay and independence. Although Bathsheba’s life seems like a fairy tale, inside her grows a nagging feeling of guilt. Using fate and god as an excuse does not bring her peace, but pushes her towards self-destructive behaviour.