Read Death and the Dervish (Writings From An Unbound Europe) Online
Authors: Mesa Selimovic
8
. S. lviii, 7, 10.
9
. A generic version of a common Koranic line; see, for example S. iv, 144.
10
. S. ix, 25.
11
. A similar idea, although differently expressed, can be found in S. xlix, 2.
12
. S. xliv, 29.
13
. S. xci, 10.
14
. S. xviii, 94.
15
. This is not an exact quotation from the Koran.
16
. No verse in this form exists in the Koran, although the idea that it embodies is common throughout.
17
. S. xiv, 34.
18
. This line is not an exact quotation from the Koran.
19
.
The concept expressed here is Koranic, but this exact line probably occurs nowhere in the book itself.
Chapter
7
1
. S. xli, 30.
2
.
Antioch
: Important city of the classical world, now the capital of the southern Turkish province of Hatay (modern Anatakya).
Chapter 8
1
. The original verse from the Koran reads as follows: “My God, I have no one besides myself and my brother” (S. v, 28). It is not clear whether Selimović made the change intentionally or if there is a misprint in the original edition of the novel. The Serbo-Croatian
sebe
(myself) differs from
tebe
(you) only in the initial letter.
2
.
Hussein-effendi of Mostar
: Hussein Čatranja, born in Mostar; wrote poetry under the name of Husami. In one of his poems he speaks of Shahin the acrobat who, accompanied by his apprentices, crossed the Neretva River in Mostar on a tightrope in 1669. Six lines of the poem have been preserved. However, the quoted lines are essentially Selimović’s.
3
.
Adem
: Adam in the Judeo-Christian tradition, the first man.
4
. Probably an echo of S. xvii, 26.
5
. S. xx, 25, 29–32.
6
.
Quabeel
: Cain in the Judeo-Christian tradition, the elder son of Adam.
7
. S. v, 34.
8
.
Nub
: Noah in the Judeo-Christian tradition.
9
. This verse is probably an echo of S. vii, 85 or S. xxvi, 117–18.
10
.
Baqara Sura
: second chapter of the Koran, “The Cow.”
11
. S. ii, 285–86.
Chapter 9
1
. S. xi, 55.
2
.
Waqiah Sura
: Al-Waqiah (The Event) is the fifty-sixth sura of the Koran.
3
. S. lvi, 1–7.
4
.
Spider Sura
: El-Ankabout, the twenty-ninth sura of the Koran.
5
. S. lvi, 8–34.
6
. S. lvi, 41–44, 51–55,
60.
7
. S. lvii, 13–14.
8
. A common image of paradise in the Koran; see, for example S. ii, 25; S. iii, 15; S. iv, 13 and elsewhere.
9
. S. iv, 59.
Chapter 10
1
. S. xci, 10.
2
.
Sava
: River in northern Bosnia that served as a natural border between the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires.
3
.
Muberid
: It is not quite clear to whom Selimović is referring. Al-Mubarrad (826–892) was a celebrated Arab philologist and poet. One of his minor works was copied by the famous calligrapher Ibn al-Bawwab (d. 1022). Thus, Selimović’s
Muberid
might refer to the artistic endeavors of two different men.
Chapter 11
1
. S. ix, 118.
Chapter 12
1
. S. iii, 169.
2
.
Kuyunjiluk
: Coppersmith section of the Sarajevo bazaar.
3
.
Posavina
: Region in northeastern Bosnia, along of the Sava River.
Chapter 13
1
. S. xiv, 24.
2
.
Lesser Brethren Monastery
: Franciscan monastery in Dubrovnik, established in the fourteenth century.
3
.
Mayram
: Muslim version of the name Mary, the mother of Christ.
4
.
Ploche
: Eastern suburb of Dubrovnik, located outside the city walls;
Tabor
refers to the sixteenth-century building in which all travelers to the city had to be quarantined for six weeks.
5
.
Mount Ivan
: Mountain forming a natural border between Bosnia and Herzegovina.
6
.
Mount Igman
: Mountain to the west of Sarajevo.
7
.
Trebinye
: City in eastern Herzegovina, located eighteen miles inland from Dubrovnik.
Chapter 14
1
. S. xvii, 81.
2
.
Kazazi
: Silk-weavers’ section of the Sarajevo bazaar.
Chapter 15
1
. S. xxxviii, 84.
2
.
Kurshumli Mosque
: Kurshumli (from Turk,
kursun
, “lead”) is an attribute of buildings with leaden roofs. Sarajevo’s largest madrasah (built in 1537–38) bears the name Kuršumlija, but there is no mosque of the same name. The Turkish traveler Evliya Celebi, who visited Sarajevo in 1660, mentions two mosques with leaden roofs: the Ferhad Bey Mosque and the Gazi Husrev Bey Mosque. The latter is located across the street from the Kuršumlija Madrasah.
3
.
Karanfil mahal
: “Carnation quarter”; seventeenth-century Sarajevo was divided into 104 mahals, of which twelve were Christian, two were Jewish, and the rest Muslim. The local eighteenth-century writer Mula Mustafa Baseškija in his
Chronicle
mentions by name each of the one hundred mahals that still existed in Sarajevo in his time. One of them was called the
Sunbul mahal
(Hyacinth quarter). Selimović, not being a native of Sarajevo, might have simply confused the names of the flowers.
4
.
Vranduk
: Town and fortress in central Bosnia, fifty-five miles north of Sarajevo; in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the fortress served as a jail for political prisoners.
Chapter 16
1
. S. l, 30.
2
.
Tuzla
: City in northeastern Bosnia.
3
.
Split
: City and port on the Adriatic coast, now in Croatia.
GLOSSARY
Muslim ritual of washing the face, arms, and legs, rinsing the mouth and nose, and rubbing the neck, ears, and top of the head before prayer
Originally an officer, later a gentleman or landowner
Copper crescent that decorates the top of a minaret
Learned man, Islamic religious scholar
One of the two most important Muslim religious holidays; the Ramadan Bairam (
Eid-al
-
Fitr
) follows after the month of fasting, Ramadan, and lasts for three days; the Kurban Bairam (
Eid-al-Adha
) comes two months and ten days after Ramadan; the holidays are set according to the lunar calendar
High-ranking official in provincial service; in Bosnia often a title of respect, regardless of the occupation of the person so addressed
Long-stemmed tobacco pipe
Women’s ankle-length coat, worn outside the house
Officer of finance, accountant-general of a province, or secretary
Member of one of various Muslim religious orders
Commander of a fortress
Title of respect, initially used for government officials and members of learned professions; later as an equivalent of “sir” or “master”
Muslim religious mendicant
Title given to one who has made a pilgrimage to Mecca
Honorific title, earned by one who knows the Koran by heart
House or part of a house allotted to women in a Muslim household; usually designed for maximum seclusion
Muslim man of religion; teacher
Nymph in the Muslim paradise
Originally a hospice for the accommodation of pilgrims and travelers; here, a free kitchen for the poor
Soldier of an elite corps of Ottoman troops; janissaries were usually taken as small boys from Christian families and raised as Muslims
Muslim judge who interprets and administers the religious law of Islam
High administrative official, vizier’s deputy
Provincial town in the Ottoman Empire
Death-warrant
Direction (of Mecca) to which Muslims turn at prayer
Invisible clock whose bells announce important events
Islamic theological seminary
Section of a town or city
Religious elementary school
Stone pedestal on which the shrouded body of a deceased person is placed during the funeral prayer
Type of coat with long, narrow sleeves
Rank in the Ottoman military, equivalent to colonel
High-ranking teacher in a
madrasah
(Islamic theological seminary)
Man who proclaims the hour of prayer
Highest religious official in a province
Ottoman scholar, versed in theology and Islamic law
Chief executive officer in a district; also called
mutesellim
Persian title, equivalent to “Great King” or “Emperor” in Europe used to designate the Sultan of Turkey
Title of the central office of the Ottoman government
Banker or money changer in the East
Wide trousers worn by men and women in the East
Islamic religious law
Muslim religious and spiritual leader
Cooling drink of the East, made of fruit juice and sweetened water
High official at the Porte, in charge of the arsenal
Student at an Islamic university
Chapter of the Koran
Complex of buildings housing a Muslim religious order
Civil governor of an Ottoman province; here used synonymously with
vizier
Here, the sultan’s deputy, governor of an Ottoman province
Endowment that serves Islamic religious, cultural, educational, and humanitarian purposes
Chapter of the Koran that is recited as a prayer for the dying or deceased
Mythical tree that grows in hell
Type of woodwind instrument
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Translations into English
Čurčija-Prodanović, Nada. “Lightness and Darkness” (excerpts from
Four Golden Birds). The Bridge
, no. 2 (1966): 29—38 (N.B.: Selimović first proposed to call
Death and the Dervish
by the title
Four Golden Birds).
Also in
Matica Iseljenički kalendar
(1971): 203–11.
Koljević, Svetozar. “Death and the Dervish” (excerpts from
Derviš i smrt).
In
New Writing in Yugoslavia
, edited by Bernard Johnson, 250–83. Baltimore: Penguin, 1970.
Rosslyn, Felicity, and Svetozar Koljević, trans. “Wild Horses.”
Books in Bosnia and Herzegovina
3, no. 5 (1984): 273–78.
Selimović, Meša.
The Island.
Translated by Jeanie Shaterian. With an Introduction by George Vid Tomashevich. Toronto: Serbian Heritage Academy, 1983.
Bibliographies of Yugoslav Literature
Mihailovich, Vasa D., ed.
First Supplement to A Comprehensive Bibliography of Yugoslav Literature in English, 1981–1985.
Columbus, Ohio: Slavica, 1988.
, ed.
Second Supplement to A Comprehensive Bibliography of Yugoslav Literature in English, 1986–1990.
Columbus, Ohio: Slavica, 1992.
Mihailovich, Vasa D., and Mateja Matić, eds.
A Comprehensive Bibliography of Yugoslav Literature in English
, 1593
–1980.
Columbus, Ohio: Slavica, 1984
Secondary Sources
Butler, Thomas J. “Between East and West: Three Bosnian Writer-Rebels: Kočić, Andrić, Selimović.”
Cross Currents
3 (1984): 339–57.
. “Literary Style and Poetic Function in Meša Selimović’s
The Dervish and Death” Slavonic and East European Review
52 (1974): 533–47.
Eekman, Thomas.
Thirty Years of Yugoslav Literature (1945—1975).
Ann Arbor: Michigan Slavic Publications, 1978. Pp. 104–10.
Egerić, Miroslav.
Derviš i smrt Meše Selimovića.
Belgrade: Zavod za udžbenike i nastavna sredstva, 1982.