Prosper Mérimée, La Guzla, ou Choix de poésies illyriques, recueillies dans la Dalmatie, la Bosnie, La Croatie et l'Hertzégowine [The Guzla]

Peter Cogman (University of Southampton)

Ed. by David Williams, University of Sheffield
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.5.2.05: French Writing and Culture: The Nineteenth-Century , 1800-1900.
Vol. editors: David Elwyn Evans (University of St Andrews), Edward Forman (University of Bristol), Elisabeth Gerwin (University of Lethbridge), Nigel Harkness (University of Newcastle upon Tyne), Tim Unwin (University of Bristol), David Williams (University of Sheffield), Jennifer Yee (University of Oxford)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1825

Places

France (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Poem collection
Translation

Resources

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La Guzla

(the title refers to the one-stringed fiddle of itinerant Serbian bards) purports to be a translation of popular ballads collected from the

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Hyacinthe Maglanovich by an anonymous Italian of part-Morlack parentage who had travelled widely between Trieste and Ragusa when young. In fact only one poem in the first edition (previously translated, notably by Goethe) was authentic. Mérimée's poems evoke an age before the rule of law, where blood ties and self-preservation lead to violence between hostile families, clans, and nations, in an accumulation of atrocities. As Mary Shelley noted, “the rustic and barbarous manners are not softened, nor the wild energy of the people tamed.” The poems celebrate energy, stoicism, independence (especially of the hajduks or brigands),…

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Citation: Cogman, Peter. "La Guzla, ou Choix de poésies illyriques, recueillies dans la Dalmatie, la Bosnie, La Croatie et l'Hertzégowine". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 November 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=9439, accessed 03 December 2024.]

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Prosper Mérimée, La Guzla, ou Choix de poésies illyriques, recueillies dans la Dalmatie, la Bosnie, La Croatie et l'Hertzégowine [The Guzla]

Dates

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