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Calling on the Edge of Time: History in Serbian Prose And Oral Tradition

The three texts gathered in this issue of Serbian Studies were initially presented at the ASEEES Convention in Los Angeles, November 2010, at the panel entitled “The Muse of History in Serbian Prose.” No proposition is more evident than the one that Clio, the muse of history, has been in the center of vivid interest and, at the same time, indefatigable poetic experimentation of many Serbian writers. However, by a conspicuous subterfuge, Clio’s countenance has been emerging in different guises, depending on the mood and the chosen instrument of her siblings, the literary muses beholding her. The same holds true of the texts presented here: not only are they concerned with different facets of the past, but they also seem to dwell in different discursive worlds. In particular, Adrijana Marčetić, in her insightful essay on Pavić’s The Dictionary of the Khazars, explores the rectangular avenues of narratological inquiry. In a probing analysis of the legend of Prince Lazar’s choice, Aleksandar Pavlović traces the formulaic routes of oral tradition. In his acclaimed novel Tesla, a Portrait Among the Masks, Vladimir Pištalo follows the forking paths of narrative fiction. Precisely because these texts open such wide and diverse vistas, they are best introduced in their intersection points.