FACTOIDS (according to Wiki)
Capital: Belgrade “City of the Future of South Europe”
Population: 7,395,000
Currency: Serbian dinar
Calling Code: 381
Serbia has 2,000km of navigable waterways
in an area just smaller than North Carolina
While so much of Serbian culture has been shaped and mis-shaped by War, I would like to focus primarily on literature, language and the arts. More specifically, here is a brief (-ish) overview of the morphing language and subsequent changing literature of Serbia. I am deeply interested in the poems themselves. For this blog, the poem (and its language) is the most important thing.
LANGUAGE
Serbo-Croatian (the Serbians call it Serbian, the Croats call it Croatian)
A Slavonic language, one of the 3 big guns along with Romance and Germanic, Serbian shares an alphabet with Bulgaria and Russia, and while the language of the peoples diverged slightly (i.e. pronunciation), the language of the liturgy and literature remained basically the same until... Eventually the difference in pronunciation expressed itself in Serbian writing. For example, certain vowels were replaced in spoken language, which eventually led to a congruent replacement in the written language. Church Slavonic was slipping into a street-version of itself that could better explain and characterize domestic ideas.
Today, the Serbian vocabulary is increasing due to word formation using mostly domestic Slavonic roots, and existing lexemes are gaining nuances of meaning. Not to mention the wide acceptance of loan words. FACT: Loan words do not gain interest over time.
For further linguistic reading.
SERBIAN LITERATURE (THE OLDIES)
Medieval Literature
The oldest manuscript book and a monument of Old-Serbian literacy is Miroslav’s Gospel (Serbian: Мирославово јеванђеље / Miroslavovo jevandjelje), a 362-page liturgic book written between 1180 and 1191 in a transitional form between Old Church Slavonic and Slavoserbian. It was written by two monk pupils Grigorije and probably Varsameleon, on a white parchment paper for Miroslav, the Duke of Zahumlje, brother of King Stefan Nemanja.
Miroslav's Gospel explains the origin of the Cyrillic script, the letters in it are a masterpiece of calligraphy and illustrations are daring and magnificent miniature and vignettes. For centuries Miroslav's Gospel has been kept in the Hilander monastery of the Serbian Orthodox Church, on Mount Athos, Greece. In 2005 Miroslav's Gospel was entered into UNESCO program Memory of the World. However, the most beautifully written and decorated manuscript remains Serbian Psalter of Munich, created in the last quarter of 14th century. The other monumental inscription from this same period is the Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja, dedicated to the Catholic coastal areas of Dioclea, that would later convert fully to Orthodox Christianity.
Serbian Epic Poetry
SERBIAN, CROATIAN AND BOSNIAN POETRY COLLECTIONS IN ENGLISH TRANSLATION
Okay, almost done. This article may be of interest to anyone thinking about the translation (aren't we all?) of a "minor language" (their words) and its presence in collections translated into English.
LANGUAGE
Serbo-Croatian (the Serbians call it Serbian, the Croats call it Croatian)
A Slavonic language, one of the 3 big guns along with Romance and Germanic, Serbian shares an alphabet with Bulgaria and Russia, and while the language of the peoples diverged slightly (i.e. pronunciation), the language of the liturgy and literature remained basically the same until... Eventually the difference in pronunciation expressed itself in Serbian writing. For example, certain vowels were replaced in spoken language, which eventually led to a congruent replacement in the written language. Church Slavonic was slipping into a street-version of itself that could better explain and characterize domestic ideas.
Today, the Serbian vocabulary is increasing due to word formation using mostly domestic Slavonic roots, and existing lexemes are gaining nuances of meaning. Not to mention the wide acceptance of loan words. FACT: Loan words do not gain interest over time.
For further linguistic reading.
SERBIAN LITERATURE (THE OLDIES)
Medieval Literature
The oldest manuscript book and a monument of Old-Serbian literacy is Miroslav’s Gospel (Serbian: Мирославово јеванђеље / Miroslavovo jevandjelje), a 362-page liturgic book written between 1180 and 1191 in a transitional form between Old Church Slavonic and Slavoserbian. It was written by two monk pupils Grigorije and probably Varsameleon, on a white parchment paper for Miroslav, the Duke of Zahumlje, brother of King Stefan Nemanja.
Miroslav's Gospel explains the origin of the Cyrillic script, the letters in it are a masterpiece of calligraphy and illustrations are daring and magnificent miniature and vignettes. For centuries Miroslav's Gospel has been kept in the Hilander monastery of the Serbian Orthodox Church, on Mount Athos, Greece. In 2005 Miroslav's Gospel was entered into UNESCO program Memory of the World. However, the most beautifully written and decorated manuscript remains Serbian Psalter of Munich, created in the last quarter of 14th century. The other monumental inscription from this same period is the Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja, dedicated to the Catholic coastal areas of Dioclea, that would later convert fully to Orthodox Christianity.
Serbian Epic Poetry
Cycles were composed by unknown authors between 14th and 19th centuries, and are mostly concerned with historical events and personages.
Structure contains a few repeating formulas: ("Dear God, a great miracle", "years of days", "writes a tiny letter", "they have fought till summer day noon").
The number three is used to such extremes that, for example, if something breaks, it always “breaks into three halves”. Longer poems can have more than five hundred lines. Each line has exactly ten syllables and caesura after fourth syllable. Songs could be recited, but traditionally they are sung accompanied by a musical instrument called gusle.
Serbian Oral Tradition Link
The Battle of Kosovo Epic Poem Link
SERBIAN LITERATURE AFTER THE WAR (THE NEWBIES)
During the 1980’s, Serbian literature was described mostly as postmodern and focused mainly on literary themes such as the position of artists/literature, metafiction, and experimental form. In the 1990’s literature turned to 'realistic' and character-focused narratives that dealt with questions of war and its consequences, thus marking the change from postmodern style to "new realism". Even Hollywood took notice of the change in Serbia with the release of their movie “Savior” in 1998. So here are a few links providing examples of 'contemporary' Serbian poetry, as well as a few shoutouts to the poets in our Serbian selection.
Here’s a link to a blog, While Sleepwalking, that discusses Serbian literature
Orient Express (a literary journal featuring Marija Knezevic)
Radmila Lazic is the managing editor of ProFemina Link
Novia Tadic:
NIGHT SONNET
Great wise night
Under the city walls
You pull me out of
The monster's socket
Lead me crazed
Out on the empty square
So I may walk again
Around myself
And see once more
That I'm still
A living creature
Son of thunder and smoke
The lost son
The solitary, generously salted--Nobody
-from Nightmail: Selected Poems, translated by Charles Simic
Author photo with Charles Simic
Charles Simic has also edited an anthology of Serbian poets titled The Horse Has Six Legs. Graywolf, 1992.
Dragan Jovanovic Danilov
“On Sunday Afternoon, A Soul is A Fascinating Fascist”
Serbian Oral Tradition Link
The Battle of Kosovo Epic Poem Link
SERBIAN LITERATURE AFTER THE WAR (THE NEWBIES)
During the 1980’s, Serbian literature was described mostly as postmodern and focused mainly on literary themes such as the position of artists/literature, metafiction, and experimental form. In the 1990’s literature turned to 'realistic' and character-focused narratives that dealt with questions of war and its consequences, thus marking the change from postmodern style to "new realism". Even Hollywood took notice of the change in Serbia with the release of their movie “Savior” in 1998. So here are a few links providing examples of 'contemporary' Serbian poetry, as well as a few shoutouts to the poets in our Serbian selection.
Here’s a link to a blog, While Sleepwalking, that discusses Serbian literature
Orient Express (a literary journal featuring Marija Knezevic)
Radmila Lazic is the managing editor of ProFemina Link
Novia Tadic:
NIGHT SONNET
Great wise night
Under the city walls
You pull me out of
The monster's socket
Lead me crazed
Out on the empty square
So I may walk again
Around myself
And see once more
That I'm still
A living creature
Son of thunder and smoke
The lost son
The solitary, generously salted--Nobody
-from Nightmail: Selected Poems, translated by Charles Simic
Author photo with Charles Simic
Charles Simic has also edited an anthology of Serbian poets titled The Horse Has Six Legs. Graywolf, 1992.
Dragan Jovanovic Danilov
“On Sunday Afternoon, A Soul is A Fascinating Fascist”
-Golem: in Jewish legend, a human figure made of clay and supernaturally brought to life; an automaton, a robot
-Kremlin: Russian citadel or fortified enclosure, especially in Moscow
(OED online)
-Kremlin: Russian citadel or fortified enclosure, especially in Moscow
(OED online)
SERBIAN, CROATIAN AND BOSNIAN POETRY COLLECTIONS IN ENGLISH TRANSLATION
Okay, almost done. This article may be of interest to anyone thinking about the translation (aren't we all?) of a "minor language" (their words) and its presence in collections translated into English.
Posts
I'd like to pose a question, because I'm not sure I have a competent answer worked out in my mind yet. In the article Ashley provided about "minor languages" being translated into English, the authors note that...
ReplyDelete"...in the 1990s, Serbo-Croatian became an historical term, and the language split into three standardized linguistic units with each ethnicity naming its language after itself. Although there are, arguably, tendencies for those variants to keep developing away from one another, they are currently mutually intelligible to the degree that they appear indiscernible to a non-native or untrained ear. Consequently, any translator who acquires competence in one of these languages or
language variants is competent to translate from another language/variant."
Perhaps the translator Tomislav Kuzmanovic is proof of this as his translations appear in the Bosnian, Serbian, and Croatian sections.
I wonder how this might affect the similarities between the sections, or even their differences, as the authors also note "Therefore, the
translator will be free to choose from poets writing Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian poetry, guided by his or her tastes and interests."
I feel as though the sections went by in a blur for me; perhaps because of the large number of countries, I couldn't quite keep track of which poems came from where.
Did anyone else grapple with this problem?
I wonder how this extends in reverse: if there's any work done on how British English and American English poems are translated into the "minor languages" (as Ashley indicated, the authors' words, not mine), and whether the assumption is because they're both "English," they can both be competently translated by the same translator. Wouldn't different slang and idiom play a part? How are these hurdles overcome?
In terms of similarities between the sections on each country, I noticed as I was reading that If I wanted to go back and reread a poem I couldn't pinpoint which section it was in and I attributed that to both the shared histories as well as the shared languages of the countries. I feel like the history and the language are inseperable.
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