„WHEN SHE COME HOME THE GATE...” : ETNOGENESYS OF ONE SYMBOL

Abstract

The gate apperas in the work of Bora Stanković as one of the key artifacts. Its symbolism in the folklore-mythical world has complex ethnogenetic implications. This paper points out the basic levels of gate figuration as the boundaries of worlds and space boundaries in Stanković’s novel Gazda Mladen. The Rusal rite and the appearance of a woman at the city gates, known in folk poetry, have their correlates in the fictional world od Stankovic’s novel, with all the moments of coincidence and deviation, which arise from the process of transposing literary material from oral to written.