Gavro Vučković Krajišnik – Making a Polemic Text Literary

Abstract

This paper deals with some of Gavro Vuckovic Krajisnik’s oeuvre, a Serbian writer and cultural emissary of the second half of the 19th – century Bosnia and Herzegovina, who has been neglected by literary history circles. The literary value of his works vary, with his artistic climax being reached in his most significant and comprehensive book titled Robstvo u slobodi ili Ogledalo pravde u Bosni (Slavery in freedom or Mirror of justice in Bosnia) . Although conceived, to some extent, as a discussion with his political opponents, this work goes far beyond a polemic text or a pamphlet. The bulk of the book is written in a narrative discourse of uneven literary value, the narration itself, interrupted by occasional descriptive passages, runs on smoothly, intertwined with numerous details, digressions and pieces of information. In addition, it is also often lively, enriched with shades of the vernacular, which influenced the writer’s gift for unusual and innovative stylistic twists, skillful and convincing language, witticism, acid irony, descriptions and metaphors. Therefore, the book reveals an interesting and highly unusual literary figure, worthy of concern of literary history, especially within the context of Serbian literary tradition in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the mid-19th century.