Cahiers Balkaniques (Dec 2008)
L’Empire ottoman et ses vestiges dans la littérature bosniaque moderne (XIXe et XXe siècles)
Abstract
The Ottoman Empire, whose occupation in Bosnia lasted from the 15th to the 19th century, left numerous traces in local literature. A big number of Slavs, who converted to Islam, wrote their literary works in so-called oriental languages (Turkish, Arabic and Persian); their poetry anthologies, dîwâns, written in Ottoman Turkish, were impregnated by Sufism (Muslim mysticism). There are hundreds of authors of this kind, a phenomenon specific to Bosnia and not found among all the other countries occupied by the Ottomans. We observe a double identity in Bosnian Ottoman poems: both an attachment to the Empire, due to the Muslim religion, as well as to their country or town. Numerous authors also expressed themselves in the Slavic Bosnian language, by using Arabic characters (a kind of literature known by the name of alhamiado or aljemiado); another type, principally an urban one, the sevdalinka is representative of Muslim popular art, still very famous these days in the Balkans.Among the Bosnians who wrote in the Bosnian language by using latten characters--this movement appeared at the end of the 19th century--it is necessary to mention Safvet Bey Bašagić (1870-1934) and Musa Ćazim Ćatić (1878-1915) whose poetry is a mixture of two cultures, while remaining an Ottoman relic. This mixture of cultures is also evident in the works of Bosnian Christians, especially in the poetry of Aleksa Šantić (1868-1924). The lyrical and nostalgic Bosnian Ottoman life, which we find in his work, are the antipode of the ambiance described by Ivo Andrić (1892-1975). Nobel Prize winner (1961), Andrić, describes Bosnia as a dark place «a country of hate and fright », known under the name of obscure vilayet. Another vision of the country appears in the work of Isak Samokovlija (1889-1955). Unlike the Jews represented by Ivo Andrić, those of Samokovlija find that Bosnia is rather a country of understanding.We find almost the same atmosphere and polarity in the novels by Meša Selimović (1910-1982), in which the Ottoman Empire serves as a backdrop; using an encoded language, the author employs the Empire and Sufism to tell us his point of view on the currents events of that time.The war in Bosnia (1992 - 1995) marks a break from the literary themes mentioned above: the Ottoman Empire is no longer the topic of discussion--now it is the war that dominates almost every book.On the other hand, numerous authors are inspired by Islam, or even by Sufism, which in fact constitutes an indirect Ottoman influence.
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