The Constitution of Sanjak-Montenegrin Bosniak’s History Within Husein Bašić’s Pentalogy “Replacements”

Abstract

: The paper analyzes the novels of symbolic titles: Other Nests, A Gate Without a Key, Bones and Crows, Barren Turkish, White Asians, integrated in the roman-fleuve Replacements (2000). The key starting point of this confessional chronicle’s chronotope are the decisions in Berlin regarding the withdrawal of Turkish troops and the changes of borders in the Balkans. Being led to tragic consequences, Bosniaks, the Islamic Slavic population, were given the burden of “Turkish guilt”. Confronted with stigmatization, Bosniaks experienced persecution, ethnic cleansing, mass and individual murders, and emigration to Turkey. Their name, national and cultural identity, homeland, state, and existence were called into question. Questioning his life as a clerk in the Imperial Archives, Ibrahim Žioc, the narrator, recounts little stories of great significance concerning human life and destiny. He produces panoramic, temporal sections which pose as compensation for the taboo subject of historical discourse regarding the Sanjak-Montenegrin Bosniaks’ destiny. Documenting the violence and the exodus of the people forced to face numerous forms of terror, the narration rhythmically accents wondrous stories, extraordinary portraits, and characters, remarkable examples of human kindliness, compassion, and humorous remarks. Employing his poetic talent, Husein Bašić introduces a lyrical component to the fictional world. The use of sophisticated narrative methods aestheticizes the evil destiny of one nation. The novels represent a literary testimony about a period of historical processes and epochal changes in the Balkans, deeply entrenched within the layered and complex contexts of Bosniak culture and history. With authentic artistic speech, the representation and interpretation of historical dramas and traumas, Bašić constituted the unwritten history of Sanjak-Montenegrin Bosniaks and awakened the identity crushed by existential crises that the wars of the 20th century had brought.