Women’s Voices in the Balkan-Slavic Literary Space in the 19th and the Early 20th Centuries

Abstract

The paper presents an overview of the thematic fields and social stances in the works of prominent female writers from Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia in the late 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. The author attempts to interpret the literary contribution of Balkan women authors outside the contemporary scholarly context of gender studies and focuses on their belated acknowledgement by male historian of South-Slavic literatures. The paper stresses out that by the beginning of the 20th century only educated women from the national elite could claim equality with men in cultural debates. The author concludes that Balkan Slavic female writers of the period are actively engaged in the process of preserving family and Christian values, as well as in the defense of women’s civil and electoral rights and the right to quality education. The works of Serbian writers Jelena Dimit-rijević, Danica Marković and Isidora Sekulić, Croats Dragolja Jarnević, Ivana Brlić Mažuranić and Marija Jurić Zagorka, Slovenians Lily Novy, Vida Taufer, and Bulgarians Mara Belcheva, Dora Gabe, Elisaveta Bagryana demonstrate considerable diversity in the styles, ethical and religious beliefs, however their contribution to the Balkan Slavic cultural processes is similarly significant in terms of upholding high civic engagement and modern European values.