“Like Some Hanging Gardens”

Serbia in Croatian Travelogues from the Romanticism (Dopis iz Banata, 1841 and Misli o putovanju našem, 1847)

Abstract

This paper is a contribution to the study of Croatian travelogues (letters from the road) from the Romantic era dealing with the Principality of Serbia, or areas also in­habited by the Serbian population (the Banat). As texts dedicated to Serbia have not been the focus of previous studies of travelogues of this period, the paper brings new insights. Of the five travelogues describing journeys to Serbia found from the begin­ning of the Croatian revival until 1860, the first two, signed with pseudonyms (Rusan Dopis iz Banata, 1841 and Bratoljub Misli o putovanju našem, 1847) are analysed. They are more strongly imbued with Illyrian ideas of community than any other travel dia­ries. In constructing a picture of compatible and related Serb and Croatian brothers – as in the programme writings of the time – the unity of language and folk song is used above all. But the poetics (poiesis) are also influenced by geography, with rivers and ‘non-existent’/invisible borders playing a special role. In these two texts, Serbia is represented as a paradisiacal space with hanging gardens.