Historia zmitologizowana we współczesnej serbskiej prozie popularnej (na przykładzie powieści Gra Aniołów Liljany Habjanović-Đurović)

• Authors: Stanislava Kostić

Title variants

EN

MYTHOLOGIZED HISTORY IN CONTEMPORARY SERBIAN POPULAR CULTURE (THE CASE OF A NOVEL IGRA ANĐELA BY LILJANA HABJANOVIĆ-ĐUROVIĆ)

• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

Events which took place in the last 20 years of the twentieth century, connected with the end of titoism, crisis in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia which was then followed by the partition of the Republic, were conductive to, on one hand, earnest and responsible approach to historical studies and, on the other hand, appearance of the history based on mythology which rejects historical methods. Mythologization of the past, bringing back and altering old historical myths was pursued by amateurs, pseudo historians or, so-called, new romantic historians, who, often due to quasi-patriotic and political reasons, wanted to undermine previous Serbian historiography, pointing out its falseness and detrimental influence on Serbian nation. They wanted to propose their own vision of history which would be free from fabrications. At the turn of the 20th century a lot of historical books were published in Serbia. They represent both ‘academic’ and ‘mythological’ approach to historical writing. There is a danger that in this multitude of publications the border between those two types of approach could be abolished. This polyphony could easily turn into cacophony in which – still using musical terminology – rhythm of ‘turbofolk’ becomes a dominating rhythm and that could lead to the victory of xenophobic, nationalistic and quasi-patriotic trends, fed on historical myths which are considered authentic and factual. The Kosovo myth is the most important and the most frequently reappearing national myth in Serbian literature. The Battle of Kosovo exists in social consciousness as the turning point of Serbian history which determined the fate of Serbian nation. It was the fall of the powerful medieval Serbian state, founded by the sacred Nemanjić dynasty and the beginning of long-lasting servitude under Ottoman rule. The Kosovo myth, as any other myth, found its reflection not only in high and popular culture, but also in popular literature written by female writers. A great example of this phenomenon is a novel Igra Anđela by Liljana Habjanović-Đurović, the author who was often regarded as kulturträger and who was considered the ‘court biographer’ and a friend of Mira Marković, which has led to recognizing her as a very influential person by the public. All of her novels, even though they are trivial, conventional, sentimental, kitschy, nationalistic and sometimes even misogynous, were, and still are, extremely popular (each of her book became an instant bestseller, many of them have several editions) and this is the reason they are extremely influential.

Keywords

EN

MYTHOLOGIZED HISTORY; CONTEMPORARY SERBIAN POPULAR CULTURE; A NOVEL IGRA ANĐELA; LILJANA HABJANOVIĆ-ĐUROVIĆ; SERBIAN HISTORIOGRAPHY; SERBIAN NATION; KOSOVO

• Publisher: Oficyna Wydawnicza Epigram
• Journal: Sensus Historiae. Studia interdyscyplinarne
• Year: 2010
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 133-144

Contributors

author

Stanislava Kostić