HAJDUCI IZMEĐU HEROJA I ZLOČINACA U ROMANIMA JANKA VESELINOVIĆA I SVETOLIKA RANKOVIĆA

Abstract

Starting from the thesis that changes in the representation of heroes – from epic to low-mimetic to anti-heroes and negative characters – in literature embody the process of modernization of the main protagonists through their subjectivation and privatization, which departs from its pre-modern archetypal template, the paper ana- lyzes the representations of hajduks in two significant Serbian realist novels from the end of the 19th century, Hajduk Stanko by Janko Veselinović and Gorski car by Svetolik Ranković. After the theoretical and methodological introduction, the hajduk phenome- non is first discussed in the historical and traditional context. The second part of the pa- per deals with the differences and similarities between two Serbian realist writers whose novels deal with the hajduk phenomenon, as well as the social-psychological context in which they created their works. The final part of the paper provides an understanding of the different portrayals of hajduks by Veselinović and Ranković, taking into account not only the different historical periods in which the phenomenon of hajduk is treated, but also the different ideological motivations that these two important Serbian writers carried with them.