Veselin Čajkanović’s Anthology of Serbian Folk Tales

Abstract

The paper examines the distinctiveness of the selection and modern classification of the material in the anthology of Serbian folk tales edited and published by Veselin Čajkanović in 1929. As an anthologist, Čajkanović struck a good balance in the representation of different sources (printed as well as manuscript sources), and made space for previously unjustly neglected records, which had been overshadowed by the prose works of the greatest authority on folklore, Vuk Karadžić himself. We outline Čajkanović’s deep and detailed insight into the archival material, manuscript collections, as well as material scattered across both well-known and difficult-to-access periodicals and other publications of lesser-known collectors of folk literature. With a focus on archaic themes and motifs from religion, magic, cult and mythology, Čajkanović compiled an erudite collection of customs, beliefs, ethical and aesthetic values of the Serbian religious thought — “The Old Testament of the Serbian People”, as it were. In addition, we look at the significance of Čajkanović’s remarkable commentary, which reveals the wealth of narrative variants, but also present detailed and noteworthy examples of analysis in the field of comparative mythology.