Yugoslav ulus idealinin çöküşünde Sırp edebiyatındaki etnik-dini milliyetçilik

This dissertation focuses on the issue of ethno-religious nationalism in three novels written by Serbian writers in the period of Socialist Yugoslavia: The Bridge on the Drina (1945) by Ivo Andric, Dictionary of the Khazars (1984) by Milorad Pavic and Knife (1982) by Vuk Draskovic. The study concentrates on the representation of the multietnnic/multireligious people constituting Yugoslavia dealing more specifically with the portrayal of Serbian characters. It argues that rather than focusing on the diversity of Yugoslav identity, these examples of the nationalistic vein in the Serbian literary traditon show paralellism with the dominant political discourse of the time that had enhanced the urge for ethnic/national disintegration stressing the impossibility of a shared Yugoslav culture. The dissertation claims further that this discourse is nourished primarily by constant references to the ancient conflicts and age-old animosities between the people constituting Yugoslavia. The study proposes that by dispelling the belief in the possibility for a peaceful coexistence under the banner of common South Slavic origin, the representativies of this deeply nationalistic literary tradition promote the failure of the Yugoslav national ideal based on the unity of all South-Slavic peoples. The main argument of the dissertation is supported with a detailed analysis of the three novels. The study of The Bridge on the Drina deviates from the conventional reading of the work and approaches the central image of the bridge from a fresh perspective viewing it as a force that divides rather than uniting the different members of Visegrad's multiethnic community. The discussion of Pavic's Dictionary of the Khazars reaches the conclusion that being composed of three different parts that present incoherent accounts of the same event, the novel presents both in form and content the failure of the Yugoslav national ideal.The last novel, Draskovic's Knife is interpreted as a rewriting of The Mountain Wreath, the foundational ultra-nationalistic Serbian text written by Peter Petrovic Njegos in the 19th century and defined in the dissertation as an epitome of the Serbian race betrayal syndrome.