Obraz Turka a „tureckého“ v povestiach regiónu Požitavia
The image of the Turk and “Ottoman” in the legends of the Žitava River region

Summary/Abstract: This article deals with analyzing the Turkish-themed legends in the Žitava River region. This region was hit hard and intensively during the Ottoman wars lasting from 1526 to 1683 with certain periods of peace. Therefore, this region is relatively rich in Turkish-themed legends. Due to the fact that this region was (temporarily) incor¬porated under the Ottoman administration, the local population had specific contacts with the Ottomans. Over time, an image of Ottomans and Ottoman people took shape in the collective memory, which manifested itself in historical legends. Many motifs and images are identical to motifs that are also found in other regions of Slovakia, but there are also anomalies. Legends collected by enthusiasts and local historians (in 1998) were used as sources of analyzed data, supplemented by archival research of the so-called collections of Professor Frank Wollman (carried out mainly in the 1930s) and the author´s field research (in 2015, 2022). As a theoretical tool, an imagological analysis fo¬cused on the image of the Ottomans, combined with folkloristic theories about collec¬tive memory and metageography, is used. The legends are compared (if possible) with historical facts to see the shift and differences within the historical collective memory and historiography.

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