"For They Were People of Stolid Faith and a Granite-Like Pride": Examining Ethnic Relations in Bosnia and Herzegovina Through a Literary Lens

Abstract

This thesis, a work of cultural and political history, seeks to understand the role of religion in the long-term causes of the breakup of Yugoslavia by creating dialogue between history and literature. The work will constrain itself geographically to Bosnia and Herzegovina, a region that was host to two of the most prolific authors in the Yugoslav canon, Ivo Andrić and Meša Selimović. While both men were committed Yugoslavists, their cultural backgrounds were grounded in different, and somewhat opposite religious perspectives. Ivo Andrić's writings represents a Judeo-Christian view of the region while Meša Selimović presents a Muslim one. A selected corpus of their novels serves as primary sources for this project. The plots of the novels take place before Yugoslavia was formed in 1918. Setting these novels in the distant past allowed the authors to explore the deep undercurrents of Western Balkan history unshackled by the bonds of the contemporary norms of Yugoslav society. It is this detachment from the immediacy of events that allows for a more nuance and holistic view of the region.

The exploration of the many facets of religious life in Bosnia, as represented in literature and works of history, will help us understand how the memory of past traumas played a part in transforming Yugoslavia from a region known for its multiethnic cohabitation to one marred by fratricidal violence. A series of questions will be used to engage in this dialogue between the literary corpus and history itself, with literature providing the hypotheses and history providing the factual evidence. The work will focus on the religious differences between Christians, particularly Serbs, and Muslims and how the relationship between both groups evolved over time. The religious and ethnic question has often been cited as a primary cause of the breakup of Yugoslavia and as such offers a fruitful avenue of study. Bosnia and Herzegovina for its part is in essence a microcosm of Yugoslavia at large, with three of the most important ethno-religious groups involved in the breakup of the country (Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks) having a strong presence throughout the country.