Disfunkcionalna patrijarhalna obitelj u Šegedinovu egzistencijalističkom romanu Djeca božja

The article analyses Petar Šegedin’s novel "Djeca božja" using feminist theories which entail references to Sigmund Freud’s theory and present a critique of the patriarchal system, to determine the way in which gender-related questions are displayed in the narrative structure of the existentialist novel examined. Theoretical groundwork for this paper is Kate Millet’s theory according to which patriarchy is based, among other things, on ideological, biological, sociological, and religious categories; these are analyzed using the examples of male-female relationships between the characters in the novel. The objective of this paper is to show the ways in which, in Šegedin’s novel, the issues of sense and purpose of man’s existence in a dehumanized world marked by war are examined via depiction of ambivalent relationships within the family.