Bosnian Authors in a European Window

This study incisively places the most important Bosnian writers of the 20th century in the European literary context comparing the poet Mak Dizdar to Homer, the novelist Mesa Selimovic to Fyodor Dostoevsky, and the novelist and Nobel Prize winner of literature, Ivo Andric to Leo Tolstoy.

The study compares three Bosnian authors with three European titans: The poet Mak Dizdar to Homer, the novelist Mesa Selimovic to Fyodor Dostoevsky, and the novelist Ivo Andric to Leo Tolstoy. The purpose is to move the appreciation of the writing of the most important Bosnian writers of the 20th century closer to the European literary community and to the wholeness of the literary phenomenon. Secondary literature on the Bosnian authors is too narrow, focusing on their ethnic heritages and the Balkan milieu in which they write and missing something essential to a critical appreciation of their works. The study creates not only affinities but, more importantly, amitiés between the authors. The discipline of comparative literature reveals what is missing in the secondary literature, namely, a vision of the literary universe, inclusive and comprehensive.

Autorentext

Keith Doubt has authored literary essays on the works of William Shakespeare, Ivo Andri and Mea Selimovi , and books on the cultural heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the impact of the war on this cultural heritage.

Inhalt

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Part I. Homer and Mak Dizdar

1. The Greek Spirit and Pious Irony in the Poetry of Mak Dizdar

2. Mak Dizdar's Over-Writing of Homer's Odyssey: A Bloomian Analysis of a Bosnian Poet

3. The Literary Interpretation of Mak Dizdar's Poem, "Blue-Violet River"

Part II. Fyodor Dostoevsky and Mea Selimovi

4. Comparing Mea Selimovi 's Dervish and Fyodor Dostoevsky's Underground Man

5. The Drama of Double-Voiced Discourse in the Prose Writing of Mea Selimovi and Fyodor Dostoevsky

Part III. Leo Tolstoy and Ivo Andri

6. Scapegoating and Martyrdom in the Works of Ivo Andri and Leo Tolstoy

7. Heroines' Suicides in the Works of Ivo Andri and Leo Tolstoy with Genevieve Tripp

8. Theorizing History in the Works of Ivo Andri and Leo Tolstoy

9. The Idealization of Women in the Novels of Ivo Andri and Leo Tolstoy with Genevieve Tripp

Conclusion: The Case for Comparative Literature: Constructing Amitiés

Index