Hvar City Theatre Days, Vol. 37 No. 1, 2011.
Original scientific paper
Remembrance and memory in Ogulin tales and legends. Space and construction of the local identity
Ana Batinić
orcid.org/0000-0002-0007-1015
; Institute for the History of Croatian Literature, Theater and Music, The Division for the History of Croatian Literature
Abstract
This paper analyzes the role of tales and legends in the construction of the local identity of the city of Ogulin and its surroundings, as well as the extent to which the level of connection with space in the sense of interdisciplinary methodological view of »the reversal towards the spatial« (M. Foucault, S. Grgas) in social sciences and humanities, and thus in literary theory, influences the creation and preservation of cultural values, as well as promotion of folk heritage. As a literary topos, Ogulin appears in many Croatian literary works. A specific fairy-tale beauty which surrounds the town was a continuous source of inspiration for writers. The most famous example of all is probably the enchanting opus of the writer Ivana Brlić- -Mažuranić. It is also almost an unavoidable part of the works of Croatian travel writers, such as Ivan Kukuljević, Radoslav Lopašić, Dragutin Hirc, Josip Torbar, Šime Ljubić, and Mijo Stuparić.
The aim of this paper is to study the ways in which folk tales and legends of Ogulin were preserved and transmitted orally, and later on appropriated in literary texts, as well as to show the ways of construction of cultural and local identity of the Ogulin region. Some of these tales are: the legend of Klek the Giant; the legend of fairies who dance in the moonlight at the top of the Mountain of Klek; the tale of the witches of Klek who, in stormy nights, hurtle to the top of the Mountain of Klek from all over the world; the folk tale from the 16th century about a girl called Zulejka or Đula, who, because of an unfortunate love, threw herself off a cliff into the abyss of the Dobra River (which is in the middle of the town) which was named Đula’s Abyss after her; the folk tale about a cursed princess trapped as a snake in the Mountain of Klek, and finally the legend of the Dragon and Schmidt’s Lake.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
71835
URI
Publication date:
3.5.2011.
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