Epic Femininity in Slavic Oral-Traditional Epic of the Balkans

• In Event: Folklore in Literature: The Function of Narrative

Abstract

This paper explores Bosnian, Serbian, and Bulgarian oral-traditional epic, three closely related Balkan cultures and traditions linked through cross-border exchange and commonality of experience within the Ottoman sphere of influence. The dominant gender code for men in these borderland societies of the early modern Balkans was heroic masculinity, illustrated in the heroic songs (BCMS junačke pjesme and Bulgarian junaški pesni). Through my reading of these songs, I identify a perplexing, submerged theme—female roles that scold, censure, and punish failures in heroic masculinity. I argue that, ultimately, these expressions of scolding, mocking, vulgarity, and curses serve as a mechanism to reinforce epic masculinity and are a function exclusive to Slavic women. I propose that this function may be an extension of women’s child rearing role. I seek to recover aspects of epic femininity in Balkan Slavic communities which may resemble similar phenomena attested in antiquity and which have gone largely unnoticed.

Author

• Rachel Neale, Florida State U