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Meša Selimović

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Meša Selimović
Meša Selimović on a 2010 Serbian stamp
Meša Selimović on a 2010 Serbian stamp
Native name
Mehmed Selimović
BornMehmed Selimović
(1910-04-26)26 April 1910
Tuzla,Condominium of Bosnia and Herzegovina,Austria-Hungary
Died11 July 1982(1982-07-11)(aged 72)
Belgrade,SR Serbia,SFR Yugoslavia
Resting placeBelgrade New Cemetery
OccupationWriter, professor, art director
LanguageSerbo-Croatian
NationalityYugoslav
Alma materUniversity of Belgrade
Genrenovel
Notable worksDeath and the Dervish(1966)
SpouseDesa Đorđić
Darka Božić (d. 1999)
ChildrenSlobodanka
Maša
Jesenka

Mehmed "Meša" Selimović(Serbian Cyrillic:Мехмед „Меша” Селимовић;pronounced[mɛ̌xmɛdmɛ̌ːʃasɛlǐːmɔʋitɕ];26 April 1910 – 11 July 1982) was a Yugoslav writer, whose works are widely considered some of the most important inBosnianandSerbianliterature.[1]Some of the main themes in his works are the relations between individuality and authority, life and death, and other existential problems.

Biography[edit]

Selimović was born to a prominentBosnian Muslimfamily of Serbian descent on 26 April 1910 inTuzla,Bosnia and Herzegovina, where he graduated from elementary school and high school.[2]

In 1930, he enrolled to study theSerbian languageand literature at theUniversity of Belgrade Faculty of Philologyand graduated in 1934. His lecturers includedBogdan Popović,Pavle Popović,Vladimir Ćorović,Veselin Čajkanović,Aleksandar BelićandStjepan Kuljbakin.[3]In 1936, he returned to Tuzla to teach in thegymnasiumthat today bears his name. At that time he participated in theSoko athletic organisation.[3]He spent the first two years of theSecond World Warin Tuzla, until he was arrested for participation in thePartisananti-fascist resistance movement in 1943. After his release, he moved to liberated territory, became a member ofCommunist Party of Yugoslaviaand the political commissar of the Tuzla Detachment of thePartisans.During the war, Selimović's brother, also a communist, was executed by partisans' firing squad for alleged theft, without trial; Selimović's letter in defense of the brother was to no avail. That episode apparently affected Meša's later contemplative introduction toDeath and the Dervish,where the main protagonist Ahmed Nurudin fails to rescue his imprisoned brother.[4]

Mural dedicated to Meša Selimović inDoboj
Mural dedicated to Meša Selimović inBijeljina
Mural dedicated to Meša Selimović inSarajevo

After the war, he briefly resided inBelgrade,and in 1947 he moved toSarajevo,where he was the professor of High School of Pedagogy and Faculty of Philology, art director of Bosna Film, chief of the drama section of the National Theater, andchief editorof the publishing houseSvjetlost.[5]Exasperated by a latent conflict with several local politicians and intellectuals, in 1971 he moved to Belgrade, where he lived until his death in 1982.[6]

Identity[edit]

Selimović researched the roots of his family and found out that he originated from theDrobnjacitribe. Most members of the tribe consider themselves to beSerbs,while some areMontenegrins.[7]It is claimed that a part of the family converted to Islam in order to protect their Christian brethren.[7]

Monument to Meša Selimović inSarajevo
Monument to Meša Selimović inTuzla

In his 1976 letter to the Serbian Academy of Science and Arts, Selimović stated for the historical record that he regarded himself as a Serb and belonging to the corpus of Serbian literature.[8][9][10][11]Selimović was a full member of theAcademy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina,[12]and a member ofSerbian Academy of Sciences and Arts.[13]

In hisautobiographicalnarration,Sjećanja(transl. Memoirs), which Selimović complements with a memoir features thus transforming them into memoir prose, Selimović describes environment and milieu of his Bosnian Muslim origin.[7]He is using discursive self-perception, and confronts and auto-reflect his identity as a complex and composite. Since perception of national belonging is distinctly subjective and simplistic, auto-perceptions are considered discursive creations,representamen,where memoirs overlap with socio-historical context.[7]In doing so, and through lens ofimagology,his autobiographical discourse becomes textual construct, or animaginary discourse.Selimović's imaginarium turns his cultural self-reflection of his Bosnian Muslim identity into oddity, but he also describes it as a complex. His memories author then transpose on entire group, with a series of images.[7]

Through the rhetoric of the image, Selimović confirms the cultural differences of Bosnian Muslims, and in that sense, his autobiographical narrative representamen confirms and strengthens the cultural and collective ethnic identity of Muslims.[7]Selimović clearly define himself by stating, "I am a Muslim", and, "I am attached to my Bosnian and Muslim origins".[7]

On the other hand, when Selimović brought forward the information about his Christian origin, some Bosnian Muslim critics attacked him, claiming that "they also knew about their origin", and asking him what is to be achieved with publicly expressing such information.[7]

Critics consider this to be a rationalization of his choice to seek recognition as writer belonging to Serbian literary circle,[14][13]by claiming that his paternal heritage was that ofOrthodox Christianidentity,[15][16]alleging a conversion to Islam back in the 17th century for pragmatic reasons.[14]The chapterParentsin hisSjećanjeprovoked reaction and criticism in his native country,[7]and will be deemed a "constructed phantasm", or imaginary discourse.[14]Critics contemplated about the reasons for this, as they called, "falsification of one's own family heritage", explaining it as a "vengeful act of defiance", and stating that Selimović's main conflicts trace back to his Muslim roots and his expression of disappointment in Bosnian environment and Bosnian Muslim milieu.[14]

He was a communist and atheist.[7]

Works[edit]

Selimović began writing fairly late in his life. His first short story (Pjesma u oluji / A song in the storm) was published in 1948, when he was thirty-six.[17]His first book, a collection of short storiesPrva četa(The First Company) was published in 1950 when he was forty. His subsequent work,Tišine(Silences) was published eleven years later in 1961. The following booksTuđa zemlja(Foreign land,1962) andMagla i mjesečina(Mist and Moonlight,1965) did not receive widespread recognition either.[18]

However, his novelDeath and the Dervish(Derviš i smrt,1966) was widely received as a masterpiece. The plot of the novel takes place in 18th-century Sarajevo underOttomanrule, and reflects Selimović's own torment of the execution of his brother; the story speaks of the futility of one man's resistance against a repressive system, and the change that takes place within that man after he becomes a part of that very system. Some critics have likened this novel toKafka'sThe Trial.It has been translated into many languages, includingEnglish,Russian,German,French,Italian,TurkishandArabic.[19]Each chapter of the novel opens with aQurancitation, the first being: "In the name of God, the most compassionate, the most merciful."[18]

The next novel,Tvrđava(The Fortress, 1970), placed still further in the past, is slightly more optimistic, and fulfilled with faith in love, unlike the lonely contemplations and fear inDeath and the Dervish.The FortressandDeath and the Dervish,as well as the subsequentOstrvo(The Island, 1974), featuring an elderly couple facing aging and eventual death on a Dalmatian island, are the only novels of Selimović that have thus far been translated into English. The posthumously publishedKrug(The Circle, 1983) has not been translated into English.

He also wrote a book aboutVuk Karadžić'sorthographicreformsZa i protiv Vuka(For and Against Vuk),[20]as well as his autobiography,Sjećanja.

Poopak NikTalabintroduces him as one of the three pioneers of children's and youth literature in theBalkansbetween 1950 and 1980 (along with Šukria Pandžu and Iskandar Klovnić), who played an important role in the development of Bosnian children's and youth literature.[21]

Family[edit]

His brother’s granddaughter is Serbian actressHana Selimović[sr].[22]Also, his cousinAmar Selimović[bs]is a Bosnian actor.[23]Meša Selimović is the uncle of Bosnian politician Mirsad Đonlagić.[24]

Bibliography[edit]

Plaque at his former home in Belgrade
  • Uvrijeđeni čovjek(An Insulted Man) (1947)
  • Prva četa(The First Company) (1950)
  • Tuđa zemlja(Foreign Lands) (1957)
  • Sjećanja(Memories) (1957)
  • Noći i jutra(Nights and Days) (film scenario) (1958)
  • Tišine(Silence) (1961)
  • Magla i mjesečina(Mist and Moonlight) (1965)
  • Eseji i ogledi(Essays and Reflections) (1966)
  • Derviš i smrt(Death and the Dervish) (1966)
  • Za i protiv Vuka(Pro et Contra Vuk) (1967)
  • Tvrđava(The Fortress) (1970)
  • Ostrvo(The Island) (1974)
  • Krug(The Circle) (1983)

Translations into English[edit]

  • The Island,1974, The Serbian Heritage Academy of Canada,ISBN0-920069-00-2
  • Death and the Dervish,1996, Northwestern University Press,ISBN0-8101-1297-3
  • The Fortress,1999, Northwestern University Press,ISBN0-8101-1713-4

References[edit]

Citations
  1. ^LZMK / Hrvatska enciklopedija: Selimović, Meša (Mehmed),Retrieved 17. December 2014.
  2. ^Meier 2005,p. 196.
  3. ^abSelimović 2000,p. 7.
  4. ^Jelušić 2005,pp. 69–84.
  5. ^Draško Ređep (1971). Živan Milisavac (ed.).Jugoslovenski književni leksikon[Yugoslav Literary Lexicon] (in Serbo-Croatian).Novi Sad(SAP Vojvodina,SR Serbia):Matica srpska.p. 474-475.
  6. ^"Meša Selimović".Feniks magazine.[permanent dead link]
  7. ^abcdefghijBajraktarević 2016,pp. 113–123.
  8. ^"Sto godina od rođenja Meše Selimovića".RTS.rs.Retrieved1 June2014.
  9. ^"ПИСМО МЕШЕ СЕЛИМОВИЋА САНУ, КОЈИМ ПОТВРЂУЈЕ ДА ЈЕ СРБИН".srpskikulturniklub.com. Archived fromthe originalon 31 May 2014.Retrieved30 May2014.
  10. ^"Ćerke velikog Meše Selimovića žive u Beogradu: Bosnu nose samo u sećanjima!".kurir-info.rs.Retrieved30 May2014.
  11. ^Večernje Novosti:Pronašao mir u Beogradu,Dragan BOGUTOVIĆ, 9 July 2010(in Serbian)
  12. ^Lešić, Zdenko; Martinović, Juraj (2010)."Međunarodni naučni skup: Književno djelo Meše Selimovića"(in English and Serbo-Croatian). anubih.ba. Dedication.Retrieved25 December2021.{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal=(help)
  13. ^abMeša SELIMOVIĆArchived4 March 2016 at theWayback Machine.Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
  14. ^abcd"Meša Selimović – bosanski pisac srpske nacionalnosti".P.E.N.(in Bosnian). 29 April 2018.Retrieved24 December2021.
  15. ^Selimović 1976.
  16. ^"Порекло писца Мехмеда Меше Селимовића".Poreklo. 30 March 2016.
  17. ^Skakić 1992,pp. 43, 67.
  18. ^abDeretić 1987.
  19. ^Skakić 1992,pp. 92–95.
  20. ^"[Projekat Rastko – Banja Luka] Mesa Selimovic: Za i protiv Vuka (1967)".
  21. ^NikTalab, Poopak (2023).Bar Bam-e Balkan(in Persian) (1st ed.). Tehran: Faradid.ISBN9786226606622.
  22. ^"Hana Selimović: (Ne)simpatična buntovnica – Ljudi – Dnevni list Danas"(in Serbian). 8 March 2019.Retrieved4 March2022.
  23. ^"Porodica je moja tvrđava".azra.ba. 5 August 2017.Retrieved30 December2020.
  24. ^"Sjećanja Đonlagić: Moj daidža Meša Selimović".avaz.ba. 5 August 2017.Retrieved30 December2020.
Sources

External links[edit]

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Preceded by President of theAssociation of Writers of Yugoslavia
1964-1965 		Succeeded by

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