ORAL TRADITION AND FOLKLORE FANTASY IN THE NOVELS OF DEJAN STOJILJKOVIĆ (LONG NIGHTS AND BLACK FLAGS, STORM RAMPART, A GOLD COIN FOR THE BOATMAN)

Abstract

This paper interprets Dejan Stojiljković’s novels dealing with the events on the territory
of medieval Serbia immediately before the Kosovo War, in the context of decoding
the role of oral tradition and folklore fiction in creating the artistic world of Stojiljković’s works. By seeing the transposed motifs, characters and narrative plots from the folk epic,
with the special importance of the dragon motif hero in the entire story, the role of the
presence of mythical creatures from folklore, as well as of the archetypal layer of the work
based on the Kosovo legend, our goal is to emphasize the potential of oral tradition as a
source of inspiration for contemporary literature in interweaving of spoken and written
words. Constants observed in the three works published so far in the five books announced
by the author will provide a basis for future interpretations of the novel in which the oral
tradition is an essential building component.