Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.15176/vol52no210
“Let Me Tell You, This Happened When…”. History, Time and Landscape in Legends from Slavonija
Ljiljana Marks
; Institut za etnologiju i folkloristiku, Zagreb
Abstract
I take historical legends to be a dynamic genre of oral literature, oral history and culture in general. They represent a dialogue with the past from the temporal (and educational) perspective of the narrator who, while speaking of the past, also provides a commentary on the present time. The analysed texts for the most part come from two manuscript collections (the vicinity of Đakovo, 1957 and Šaptinovci 1974/1975). It is a region that did not provide any great heroes in Croatian history, but this does not necessarily indicate a lack of awareness of the historical period which could be related in a story. From within these legends springs forth the narrator's concept of history: important milestones that represent turning points not only in the wide world, but also in this small community (First and Second World War), the importance of local aristocracy (earls) who act as a substitute for the usual feudal fairytale world. Adventures of local outlaws are evoked, as well as tales about prominent figures pertaining to the Croatian culture in general (Strossmayer), who are the main characters in events taking place in the local community. The retold events are narratively constructed as legends on the verge of memorates and mythical tales. In doing so, the legends denote permanent and firm historical points and mythical places, but they simultaneously update and vivify them by retelling them.
They can be interpreted as culture of remembrance in the Assman's sense of the term because the narrators, for the most part born at the turn of the 19th and 20th century, (the majority in both collections), speak of events in terms of stories they remember as eyewitnesses (or from dramatic pieces of news that spread in diverse manners, by no means only verbally) or stories they heard told by the community elders. They can also in a way be interpreted as part of imagology, a romantic representation of landscapes, events, characters and interpretations (Pageaux 2009). Legends of local heroes, often anonymous and unknown in the wider frame, especially in the 'big historical picture', make a fine yarn for the story, which in the realistic context, takes contours completely differently from the stories we find in books. Thus, it is singular, different from the famous stories, and though it frequently belongs to the narrative imaginational content of European tales, it still directly invokes a sense of intimacy with the land and the people.
Keywords
legends, topography, the culture of memory, Slavonija, Croatia
Hrčak ID:
149486
URI
Publication date:
14.12.2015.
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