Bosnian Authors in a European Window

Book excerpt: The study compares three Bosnian authors with three European titans: The poet Mak Dizdar to Homer, the novelist Meša Selimović to Fyodor Dostoevsky, and the novelist Ivo Andrić to Leo Tolstoy. The purpose is to move the appreciation of the writing of the most important Bosnian writers of the 20th century closer to the European literary community and to the wholeness of the literary phenomenon. Secondary literature on the Bosnian authors is too narrow, focusing on their ethnic heritages and the Balkan milieu in which they write and missing something essential to a critical appreciation of their works. The study creates not only affinities but, more importantly, amitiés between the authors. The discipline of comparative literature reveals what is missing in the secondary literature, namely, a vision of the literary universe, inclusive and comprehensive.