Epic traditions in Balkan world literature

Long focused primarily on the literature of a few major European powers, comparative studies have increasingly been giving substantial attention to writers in smaller countries and using less widely diffused languages. The rich and varied literatures of the Balkans are ideal candidates for renewed attention, but perhaps because of the number and variety of languages involved, there has been little broadly comparative work on Balkan literature, especially across the region’s language families. This essay proposes that we can learn a great deal, even when working mostly in translation, when we open out a wider perspective to explore the literary commonalities and discontinuities that have emerged across the region’s languages, countries, religions, and imperial histories. Taking examples from Bosnia’s Ivo Andrić, Albania’s Ismail Kadare, and Romania’s Ion Budai-Deleanu and Mircea Cǎrtǎrescu, I argue that their works interfuse Balkan epic traditions and broader European models to contribute powerfully to what can be called a distinctive Balkan world literature.