Naša narodna epika kao argument u homerskom pitanju
Our oral epic poetry as an argument in the Homeric question

Summary/Abstract: ln this additional chapter of my study published newly, in this review under the same title I am analyzing briefly the epic poem of Avdo Međedović The Wedding of Smailagić Meho resp. Ženidba Smailagina sina (= Serbo-Croatian Heroic Songs III and IV, Cambridge [Mass.], 1974), whose two volumes have come subsequently into my hands. ln the previous chapters, where I insisted on the distinction between epic song, in which Serbo-Croatian helroic poetry usually finds its expression, and great epic poem, which is the typical form of Homeric poetry, I remained, however, in expectation as to the great songs of Avdo Međedović, the main support of the oral theory. Now, Avdo's Smailagić Meho is really impressive. Within the great extent of 12.311 verses it realizes the essential premisses of great epic as generally defined by competent literary theory. What our cyclic epic poetry was not able to prove - neither in its shorter classical nor in its longer modern songs - is now demonstrated in Avdo's extraordinary achievement, which is the first natural epic in the rich treasury of our oral epic poetry. The same could be true of his other great poem Osmanbeg Delibegović and Pavičević Luka still unpublished. An epic poem of the kind may be rightly taken as a basis for comparative research. The further paralllel study of Homer's and Avdo's epic technique will lead to new impor'tant typological conclusions, however may their creations differ in artistic qualities. Even the unusual circumstances under which Avdo's epic has come to birth ought to be no obstacle in this work. For Homer himself is obviously an exceptional figure within the Greek epic tradition. Avdo's great oral poem is, at the same time, a deserved appreciation of the unremitting efforts of the Harvard scholars, who already for half a century are working seriously in the field of Homeric criticism.

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