Literature as Enlightenment in Edhem Mulabdic’s Works

Abstract

This paper analyses Edhem Mulabdić’s novels Zeleno busenje (1898) and Nova vremena (1914), and his collection of short stories, Na obali Bosne (1900). These texts played a pivotal role in economic, educational and social progress and interculturality among Bosnians. Mulabdić’s literary works strive to bring together “heart and mind” – East and West – and to affirm intercultural understanding through collaboration with other South Slavic peoples. Mulabdić promoted the Bosnian language, universal ethical values, the idea of emancipation through education, and the re-contextualisation of Islamic teachings, and his ideas strongly influenced the wider community.