Lijevo od istoka, desno od zapada
Matija Bošnjak, a literary comparative scholar and art historian, explores Bosnian and Herzegovinian literary modernity as a space of cultural hybridity – left of the east, right of the west – in his collection of essays Left of the East, Right of the Wes
Through erudite, polemical analyses, Bošnjak dissects the boundaries between tradition and modernism, heretical heritage and Western influences, highlighting the existential limbo of the post-Ottoman world, where identity is fragmented in conflict with Orientalism and rationalism.
A key essay deals with gnostic motifs in the poetry of Mak Dizdar, where the spirit of the Bosnian church – heretical dualism, Bogomil apocrypha such as the Secret Book – resonates in Kamena spavača. Dizdar rescues the heritage from oblivion, criticizing the counterfeits of sevdalinka. Symbols (circles of pain, orant) are linked to Catharism: the world is the work of a false god, souls are imprisoned angels, the erotic distance in the verses (Sun Christ, Death) reflects anti-cosmism.
The second essay analyzes Skender Kulenović’s Ponornica, where pantheism (Spinoza) and decadence (Huysmans, Wilde) illustrate the disintegration of feudalism. The characters confront transcendence in the body and nature; decadence is indifference to collapse – social, familial, sexual – where vitality contrasts emptiness, and return brings alienation.
Bošnjak combines theory and practice, emphasizing comedy as a serious dimension. His hermeneutic style reveals poetic darkness: life is an abyss and a source. The collection recalls a deep reading of heritage, making Bošnjak a fresh voice in criticism.
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