KRAJIŠKA JUNAČKA EPIKA
HEROIC EPIC POEMS OF BOSNIAN KRAJINA

Summary/Abstract: Emergence of Bosniak epic poems, which are commonly called the heroic songs from Krajina, is explained by the socio-historical conditions of the area where they were made. They occur mostly in the Bosnian Krajina, which is ''krajiste'' (border) of two opposing cultures, two opposing religions and two conflicting world since time immemorial - the Islamic East and the Christian West. The very essence of this type of poems was defined by something which is specific to Krajina, and that is the warrior mentality of Bosnian man who has for a long period hovered on the windswept of constant bloody clashes and conflicts, since the fall of the medieval Bosnian state, through the period of Ottoman rule, and even today. Such ways of life, life on the edge, and on the country border necessarily had to emanate through folk creativity, which is a beautiful way to testify the psycho-social colors and aesthetic standards of the mythical and ancient times on the frontier of the Ottoman empire. Although the Muslim epic songs occur throughout the South-Eastern Europe, and wherever Muslims lived in the Balkans, Bosnian Krajina is a region of great importance for creating exceptionally rich Bosnian epic poems. It is because the epic poems from Krajina have been determined by world literary criticism as an inspiration and a hotbed for most of the recorded and preserved Muslim European epics.

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