In Avala Is Falling, Jovanović’s breakout success in 1978, a young woman challenges the expectations that teachers, parents, bus drivers, and doctors have for her. The “Avala” of the title refers to a mountain south of Belgrade which is home to some of Serbia’s most important nationalist monuments and shrines; it is also the site of the main mental hospital for the region, and its “falling” is the unexpected fulfillment of a prophecy from a traditional Serbian folk song. Jovanović’s use of stream of consciousness in her characters’ thinking and speaking, as well as of intertextuality in description and plot advancement heralded the arrival of an innovative new writer who was determined to break with the of traditional concerns of earlier women writers.

This book is now recognized as much more than “jeans prose,” although the fame the book achieved under that characterization eventually pushed it to cult status. Jovanović is now considered a major avant-garde writer, whose stylistic innovations were as challenging as her women-centered themes.

TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE
CHAPTER ONE      Introductory Remarks by Jelena’s Biographer
CHAPTER TWO     Mr. Swede, the Moustache
CHAPTER THREE Mića, the Future Officer
CHAPTER FOUR   Propellers, Motors I 21
CHAPTER FIVE     Marijana Says: “There’s a Daffodil between my Legs”
CHAPTER SIX       Bautista Van Šoven (Bautista Van Schouwen)
CHAPTER SEVEN Propellers, Motors II
CHAPTER EIGHT Aunt Maša’s House Rules
CHAPTER NINE    The Secretary of the Tenants’ Council, and a Volunteer
CHAPTER TEN     Playing Chess on Dositelj Street
CHAPTER ELEVEN The Lookout (The Words of the Anonymous Man Who Longs to Love Jelena’s Body)
CHAPTER TWELVE Jelena’s Siamese Twin
CHAPTER THIRTEEN Jelena’s Second Letter
CHAPTER FOURTEEN Mathematical Symbols for Jelena’s Future, or Zoran’s Lips
CHAPTER FIFTEEN Jelena’s First Letter
EPILOGUE
AFTERWORD BY JOHN K. COX