The frames of south slavic dream-visions (xviiith c.)

Abstract

The paper deals with the frames of South Slavic dream-visions in the eighteenth century, in the following works: a fragment of Pripovidke Pilpaj bramine by Matija Antun Reljković [1767], several oriental tales published by Dositej Obradović in Sobranije (1793), and the poem Tužba duše i tila (1794) by Josip Stojanović. These translation-adaptations observe the conventions of the European literary fashion of dream-visions which were very popular in Medieval poems, and in prose form again in the eighteenth century, during the Enlightenment. The purpose of this paper is therefore threefold: firstly, it deals with the frames of South Slavic dream-visions regarding formal, structural, and thematic issues; secondly, it compares South Slavic translation-adaptations with the Western originals as well as the models they were based on; thirdly, it frames the social and literary context of the emergence and diffusion of the originals, models, and South Slavic translation-adaptations. The methodology used is that of the analysis and comparison of the original, of the models and the translation-adaptations of South Slavic dream-visions. The paper concludes by establishing the frames of South Slavic dream-visions that have up until now been considered as part of other literary genres; moreover, it identifies the originals and later models for some of these translation-adaptations; lastly, it defines the social and literary context of European and South Slavic dream-visions.