Depictions of War in Modern Bosnian Literature

Abstract

In the article, different approaches to create an image of war in 1990s, during the collapse of Yugoslavia are shown based on the material of the “besieged” (Dž. Karahasan, M. Jergović, O. Kebo) and afterwar (V. Kapor, F. Štukan) Bosnian literature. The main point is to discover the olfactory, auditorial, visual images as well as tastes which are used for depicting war. Jergovic and Kapor are using olfactory images to show the contrast between peace and war. Tastes are used by Kebo in his “Sarajevo for Beginners”, in which the taste of war is bad water and plain rice. Auditory images are those of explosions and gunshots which, over time, are becoming new norm. Silence for Stukan is a sign of danger, but for Kapor it is trauma space. Visual images show the destroyed cities and towns, but “besieged” authors describe it with much more details, while Stukan and Kapor use a few sparse mentions. The absence of light becomes the symbol of the end of times in “besieged” literature.

Received: 01.08.2025.
Revised: 03.09.2025.
Accepted: 16.09.2025.

Citation
Shatko E. V. Depictions of War in Modern Bosnian Literature // Slavic Almanac. 2025. No 3–4. P. 223–232 (in Russian). DOI: 10.31168/2073- 5731.2025.3-4.11