БАЛКАН У ПУТОПИСИМА – ИЗМЕЂУ ФИКЦИЈЕ, СУБЈЕКТИВНОСТИ, ОБЈЕКТИВНОСТИ И СТЕРЕОТИПА
THE BALKANS IN TRAVEL BOOKS – IN BETWEEN FICTION, SUBJECTIVITY, OBJECTIVITY AND STEREOTYPES

Summary/Abstract: The first part of the essay deals with the conflicting opinions of vari- ous different authors regarding the place travel books should occupy in literature. It is often thought that travel books are not only a hybrid genre but that it is also questionable whether they are a genre at all. Although such a level of disagreement regarding travel books does exist, most authors point out the doubtless existence of fictional elements within them. Travel books can range from the ones which are similar to reports (grounded in facts) but are still somewhat subjective, to the ones where fictional elements are clearly dominant. Individual authors of various travel books usually displayed a tendency to take sides in disputes between the various Christian peoples of the Balkans, while there were even those who openly wrote in support of the Ottoman Turks. Although travel books represent a valuable source of facts and information, the question whether the author was objective/subjective remains unanswered. A good example of such tendencies is Black Lamb and Grey Falcon by Rebecca West, as well as Through the Lands of the Serb by Mary Edith Durham. Taking these travel books as examples, we analyse, in broad terms, the question of objectivity/ subjectivity which the reader and researcher of the Balkans must surely face. While the first travel book had received much more publicity over the years, the latter had remained rather obscure. It is an excellent example of how an author can change not only his/her initial views but sides as well, beginning at the positive pole regard- ing the Slavic population of the Balkans and eventually reaching the opposite one.

• Details
• Contents