Narrative Re/Definition of Jewish-Bosnian Intracultural Identity

Abstract

The Jewish cultural tradition, which within the framework of the Bosnian habitus went through stages - from assimilation, concretization, activation, and even fusion - represents a paradigm of intracultural processes in the complex Bosnian society. These processes take place through various interactions, which have not been bypassed by local literature, and are representative of one part of the literary oeuvre of Isak Samokovlija. Based on the theoretical starting points of intercultural interpretation and psychoanalysis, the work questions Samokovlija's short stories in which the characters act through the suppressed own versus the foreign. This is especially expressed in the stories “Od proljeća do proljeća” (From Spring to Spring) and “Plava Jevrejka” (The Blue Jewess).