EUROPE IN THE MIRROR OF BOSNIA

Bosnia has been shaped as a separate imagological space in the conjunction of local and foreign political, social, scientific, cultural and artistic practices. Searching for an answer to the question what Bosnia is, both as a political, historical and cultural whole and as an idea, this section will analyze foreign views of Bosnia and point to the European contribution to mapping the discursive borders of our homeland. Our aim is to present ways in which Europeans have perceived Bosnia and Bosnian Muslims since the 16th century until this day through travel literature, academic studies, photographs and films.

Hundreds of academic, travel, anthropological and ethnological books about Bosnia and Bosnian Muslims have been written, from those that deal with the culture of living in general (Antun Hangi: Život i običaji muslimana u Bosni i Hercegovini, Mostar, 1900; Marinko Zekić: Kulturni identitet bosanskih muslimana, Sarajevo, 2019), to ones that are interested in particular aspects of individual segments of the written heritage of Bosnian Muslims (Milena Mrazović: Bosnisches Skizzenbuch, Dresden, 1900; Maximilian Braun: Die Anfänge der Europäisierung in der Literatur der moslimischen Slaven in Bosnien und Herzegowina, Leipzig, 1934 / Začeci evropeizacije u književnosti slavenskih muslimana u Bosni i Hercegovini, Sarajevo, 2010). An extremely important segment of the European disposition of Bosnia pertains to travelogues – a borderline literary genre at the crossroads of literary and academic style. This form of writing has a particular significance since it depicts living images from Bosnian daily life, reports on customs and the way of life, on the culture of living and dressing, as well as subjective views of Bosnia and Muslims in it. Foreign travelogues are therefore a most important source for the imagological analysis of conceptions, prejudice, explicit and implicit views of Bosnia and Bosnian Muslims. 

No other Balkan country has been a subject of European travel writers' interest to the same extent as Bosnia, often because of its Islamic heritage. As the central part of the Balkans, Bosnia has attracted aristocracy, the middle class, diplomatic officers, adventurers, merchants and intelligence officers. There are dozens of separate studies and works which deal with the way of presentation of Bosnia in works by European travel writers. This topic has been dealt with by Mato Džaja, Ivan Pederin, Milorad Ekmečić, Miloš Okuka i Petra Rehder, Smail Balić, Ivica Petrović, Lejla Čampara, Marian Wenzel and Ljubinka Kojić, Dubravko Lovrenović, Naser Šečerović, Magdalena Veselović Šulc, Zijad Šehić and others. An extremely important contribution to the clarification of this topic – particularly due to the fact that a great majority of European travelogues about Bosnia has not yet been translated into Bosnian or another South Slavic language – has been given by Amira Žmirić in her doctoral dissertation Austrijski i njemački putopisi o Bosni i Hercegovni do 1941. godine (Austrian and German travelogues about Bosnia and Herzegovina until 1941) and Neval Berber in his study Otkrivanje Bosne i Hercegovine u britanskoj putopisnoj literaturi (Discovering Bosnia and Herzegovina in British travel literature).

The analysis of European discursive practices which are focused on Bosnia leads to the conclusion that European view of Bosnia, particularly of Muslims, is complex in many ways. It has been conditioned by the time of writing, socio-historical relations, reasons for writing and authors' goals, and particularly by political connotations. Consequently, it is impossible to give an unambiguous assessment of the image of Bosnia created by European authors. 

If we ignore medieval writings and focus only on works written after the fall of the Kingdom of Bosnia and its history during the rule of the Ottoman Empire and the first news about the existence of the organized life of Muslims in Bosnia, we will see that the European view of Bosnia and Muslims in it can be tentatively classified into four value categories. The first group includes works where Bosnia is perceived as a dark wilayah and Bosnian Muslims are treated as barbarians and despots:

• Benedikt Kuripešić: Itinerarium oder Wegrayss Küniglich Mayestät Botschafft gen Constantinopel zu dem Türkischen Keiser Soleyman, Anno, 1530 / Putopis kroz Bosnu, Srbiju, Bugarsku i Rumeliju, Banja Luka, 2012;

• Balthasar Hacquet: Abbildung und Beschreibung der südwest- und östlichen Wenden, Illyrer und Slaven, Leipzig, 1801;

• Tereza fon Artner: Briefe über einen Theil von Croatien und Italien an Caroline Picher, Pesth, 1830;

• Humphry Sandwith: Preface to Notes on the South Slavonic Countries in Austria and Turkey in Europe, London, 1865;

• Franz Maurer: Eine Reise durch Bosnien, die Saveländer und Ungarn, Berlin, 1870;

• Moritz Busch: Die Türkei, Reisehandbuches für Konstantinopel, die untere Donau, Rumelien, Bulgarien, Macedonien, Bosnien und Albanien, Wien und Trieste, 1881.

The second group includes travelogues which distance themselves from the image of a dark wilayah but where the discourse of Orientalism and Balkanism still prevails. Depicting Bosnia as a rampart of typical Ottoman and Islamic traditions, as Berber notes, is also enriched with Oriental images that reminded of the apparent propensity for laziness and inertia, particularly among the Muslim population of Bosnia. It has probably been one of the most frequent images of Bosnia, which underscored the belief that Bosnia is part of the decadent East positioned in Europe. Travelogues and reportages which construct such an image of Bosnia have been based on the assumption of Western civilizational and moral superiority:

• Paulina Irby: Travels in the Slavonic Provinces of Turkey-in-Europe, London,1867 / Putovanje po slovenskim zemljama Turske u Evropi, Beograd, 1868;

• Šestak i Scherb: Militärische Beschreibung des Paschalik's Hercegovina und des Fürstenthums Crnagora samt Karte, Wien 1862;

• Lebret i Geiger: Studien über Bosnien, die Herzegovina und die bosnischen Bahnen unter Beschreibung einiger genereller Tracirungs-Methoden, Wien, 1873;

• James Creagh: Over The Borders Of Christendom And Eslamiah V2: A Journey Through Hungary, Slavonia, Servia, Bosnia, Bersegobina, Dalmatia, And Montenegro, To The North Of Albania, London, 1876;

• Arthur J. Evans: Through Bosnia and the Herzegóvina on Foot During the Insurrection, London, 1877; Kroz Bosnu i Hercegovinu peške tokom pobune augusta i septembra 1875: sa istorijskim pregledom Bosne i osvrtom na Hrvate, Slovence i staru Dubrovačku republiku, Sarajevo, 1965;

• Heinrich Sterneck: Communicationen und das Reisen in Bosnien, der Herzegovina und Nord-Montenegro, Wien, 1877;

• Vikotor Fürst Odercalchi: Erlebtes in Bosnien. Aus dem Tagebuch eines k.u.k. Offiziers, Wien, 1878;

• Anton Hauger: Bosnien und die Herzegowina und das Feldeisenbahnwasen, Wien-Klagenfurt, 1878;

• Franz Pfanner: Bosnien, ein Land für Ansiedlung, Wien, 1878;

• Friedrich Salomon Krauss: Aus Bosnien und der Hercegowina, Wien, 1885;

• James George Cotton: The growth of freedom in the Balkan Peninsula: notes of a traveller in Montenegro, Bosnia, Servia, Bulgaria, and Greece: with historical and descriptive sketches of the people, London, 1886;

• Emile de Laveleye: The Balkan Peninsula, London, 1887;

• Ernst Vergani: Nach sarajevo und Mostar, Wien, 1892;

• Anton de Val: Reisebilder aus Bosnien, Wien, 1895:

• William Eleroy Curtis: The Turk and his lost provinces: Greece, Bulgaria, Servia, Bosnia, Chicago-London, 1903;

• Jaekel Blair: The Lands of the Tamed Turk: Or, The Balkan States of Today, Boston, 1910.

In the third group we find works which distance themselves from the Orientalist discourse and preserve objectivity with respect to emphasizing the need for infrastructure modernization and joining the developments in the Western European civilization. In these works, Bosnia and Bosnian Muslims are treated with a kind of affection, even occasional enthusiasm: 

• Eduard Rüffer, Land und Leute von Bosnien und der Hercegovina, Prag, 1878;

• Adolf Strausz: Bosnien. Land und Leute: historisch-ethnographisch-geographische Schilderung, Wien, 1882;

• Svetozar Borojević: Durch Bosnien: Illustrirter Führer auf der k. u. k. Bosna-Bahn und der bosnisch-hercegovinischen Staatsbahn Doboj-Siminhan, Wien, 1887 / Kroz Bosnu. Ilustrirani vodič C.-k. bosanske željeznice i Bosanskohercegovačke državne željeznice Doboj – Simin Han, Zagreb-Sarajevo, 2018;

• Johann von Asboth, Bosnien und die Herzegowina. Reisebilder und Studien, Wien, 1888 / Bosna i Hercegovina – putopsisne slike i studije, Sarajevo, 2021;

• Moritz Hoernes: Dinarische Wanderungen: Cultur-und Landschaftsbilder aus der Bosnien und der Hercegowina, Wien, 1888;

• Carl Peez: Mostar und sein Culturkreis: ein Städtebild aus der Hercegovina, Leipzig 1891;

• Josef Koetschet: Aus Bosniens letzter Türkenzeit, Wien-Leipzig, 1909;

• Edward Robson Whitwell: Through Bosnia and Herzegovina with a paint brush, Darlington, 1909;

• Maude M. Holbach: Bosnia and Herzegovina: Some wayside wanderings, York, 1910;

• Gino Bertolini: Tra Mussulmani e Slavi – In automobile attraverso Bosnia ed Erzegovina, Dalmazia e Croazia, Milano, 1909 / Između muslimana i Slavena – automobilom kroz Bosnu i Hercevinu, Dalmaciju i Hrvatsku, Sarajevo, 2022;

• Mathias Murko: Bericht über eine Reise zum Studium der Volksepik in Bosnien und der Herzegowina im jahre 1913, Wien, 1915.

The last group consists of travelogues where Bosnia and Herzegovina, particularly its Muslim element, has been presented in a Romanticist manner as an idealized fairytale land, a jewel of the world, the magical glow of which overshadows other countries:

• Heinrich Renner: Durch Bosnien Und Hercegowina Kreuz Und Quer, Berlin, 1896 / Bosnom i Hercegovinom uzduž i poprijeko, Sarajevo, 2007;

• Robert Michael: Mostar, Prag, 1909 / Mostar, Sarajevo, 2006;

• Ferdinand Fauland: Vorwiegend heiter – Von einem, der auszog, um General zu werden, Graz-Wien-Köln, 1980.

Naturally, this classification is tentative and, like any other categorization, only partly true. Borderlines between the listed categories are fluid to such an extent that entire passages from one travelogue can be found in a category the work does not belong to. Indeed, in Humphry Sandwith's travelogue we read about the “Asian despotism” of Bosnian Muslims, though also about their Oriental charm. Franz Maurer writes resentfully and harshly about Bosnian Muslims and considers them savages; however, he is also one of the first foreign travel writers who wrote prominently lyrical, aesthetically valuable passages in the description of our country. Friedrich Salomon Krauss writes about backwardness of villages and towns and the need for modernization, but at the same time points out that Muslim epic poems can be compared to the Greek ones by their magnificence. Heinrich Renner has written some of the most beautiful literary works about Muslims in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but does not give up the search for the justification of the colonial attitude of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. 

Johann von Asboth arrived in Bosnia in the escort of Benjamin Kallay. Like many others before and after him, his works provided academic legitimacy to the Austro-Hungarian occupation; however, he remained fascinated with the geography and people of Bosnia and wrote one of the most comprehensive and the most beautiful travel-historical books ever written about Bosnia. Interestingly Asboth, who toured the East before arriving in Bosnia, pointed out that “Islam in Bosnia, with its spirit and customs, has preserved a more original, cleaner and consistent form than in its center and in the countries of the Islamic world”. An almost identical thought would be repeated a quarter of a century later by the Italian travel writer Gino Bertolini, though he did not miss the opportunity to occasionally warn of poor infrastructure.

An extremely important aspect of foreign travelogues, regardless of the ways of perceiving Bosnia and Muslims in it, is the contribution to the recording of the oral tradition and the occasional detailed descriptions of important architectural buildings which were destroyed in the 20th century wars. This aspect of Europeans' contribution to the culture of remembrance in Bosnia and Herzegovina often escapes the dark critical discourse of Orientalism understood in the way of Said. On this platform we will strive to avoid this trap and underscore both negative and positive sides of the European notions of Bosnia and Bosnian Muslims.

The analysis of European views of Bosnia gives the impression that all the published books about Bosnia so far are indeed a single book, the horizons of which are not visible nor is it possible to encompass them entirely. One of the reasons is their incompleteness. Last year, an extraordinary travelogue by Tharik Hussain was published in London, entitledMinarets in the mountains – a journey into Muslim Europe. It is a travelogue about Bosnia and parts of the Balkans with Muslim majority, and as far as we know, he is currently preparing books about Islam in Bosnia in German written by the well-known European writer Ilija Trojanow. Despite thousands of written pages, the Book about Bosnia from the pen of European authors is still in the making.

With each new page of this huge book of infinity, new worlds of Bosnia open before the reader: its archeological and ethnological layers, magical arabesques of its multiple identities, distant times and mysterious spaces, magical tales from ancient times and painful testimonies of history, its eschatology and mythology, villages and cities, highways and byways, individuals and universes.