MAY FAVORIT

Penthology about the Ilijasbegovichs

SUMMARY      Penthology about the Ilijasbegovichs consists of five parts-books: 1. Ilijas-beg kapetan Trebinjski (Ilijas-bey the captain of rebinje), 2. Inšalah, 3. Begovina (The Begovina is name of property Ilijasbegovich's family!), 4.Dubrovaèki intermezzo ( Dubrovnik's intermezzo), 5. Od Mostara da Haaga (From the Mostar to the Haag). The writer describes the life of one Muslim noble familiy of European South-East in five books, on 1100 pages. It begins in the 17th century by the arrival of kadi Ilijasbegoviæ to Trebinje, Bosnian town near Dubrovnik, on the border of two empires of that period: Turkish and Venetian. It used to be the border of two irreconciliable religions: Christianity and Muslims.

In the first book ("Ilijas-beg kapetan trebinjski) one of the Ilijasbegović family's ancestor, educated and strong personality a professional soldier, together with his Catholic friend from Bosnia Father Matija ( a Franciscan member) tries to persuade Christian neighbours that Islam is not what a Catholic world of Vatican "Kongregacia de propaganda fide" indoctrinate in persistent and extremely unfriendly way. Being a friend with nobleman of Dubrovnik is one of his efforts to prove the possibilty of coexistance of two different religions and civilisations. Thus, he made enemies on both sides. At the end he became a victim of his own humanistic ideas.

In the second book ("Inšalah) a son of the captain of Trebinje, Hasan-beg inherited not only father's calling of professional soldier, but also his ideas of tolerant world and a world of respecting religious, civilisational and cultural differencies. Just like his father, he becomes a victim of hatred and misunderstanding. Like in the previous book, the life of the main hero and the lives of others, is presented as a very strong portrait of characters and their destinies.

The writer has not discovered any particulary interesting events in the family of Ilijasbegoviæ during the 18th century, so the third book "Begovina" begins with the 19th century, the century so much important for the Islam's survival in Bosnia and Croatia. Through the main hero's destiny (again Ilijas-beg) and professional soldier, are described all traps that threatened to Bosnian Muslims after the downfall of Austro-Hungarian monarchy and founding of Yugoslavia. Muslims were almost exterminated. At the time, Vatican "Kongregacia de propaganda fide" was replaced by the primitive and militant Serbian Orthodox church. Due to these circumstances, the whole family of Ilijasbegoviæ decided to move to Dubrovnik, the city of urban culture which actually was not much more tolerant than primtive Herzegovina, but expressed its animosity towards Islam and Muslims in much more, so–called civilised and cultural form.

The fourth book ( Dubrovaèki intermezzo) begins with this relocation and, like previous parts of saga, it also illustrates an unfair and hard position of Muslims in this part of the world by describing series of events. Among other ancestors of Begovina, the Main hero is again entitled Ilijas-beg and is again a future professional soldier ( actually a military officer). At the end of the book the young Ilijas-beg, due to the constant harassment of his enviroment is obliged to leave the last grade of lyceum in Dubrovnik and to go to Mostar in order to graduate.

In the fifth book "Od Mostara do Haaga" the writer focuses on the personality of military officer Ilijas-beg, (already known from the fourth book!), on his education in Beograd and in military institutions of the USA, on creating his family which inevitably meets with a devistating blow. Their younger son becomes a victim of childish chauvinistic game. The Ilijasbegovichs leave Dubrovnik and move to Mostar because of that. Here, in Mostar, Ilijas-beg is met with a Yugoslavian army's agression on Bosnia and Herzegovina. Being a highly educated officer, he successfully commands the defence of Mostar. However, after the conflict of Muslims and Croatians, he stays on Croatian side. His tragic destiny is a personification of destinies of many Muslim intelectuals of Bosnia and Croatia during the recent war in Bosnia. His close and younger relative Enver-beg, also a professional soldier, took Bosnian side. He cut short with American secret service and together with mudžahedins from Afganistan came to defend Bosnia. Due to certain crimes commited by his mudjahedins,at the end of the book he will be accused in Hague and will be serving his sentence. This is only an attempt to write a summary of saga about the Ilijasbegovichs. Actually, it can not be more summarized, since apart from the main theme of the story there are many other subplots equally important as the main one. Firstly, it talks about personalities of Muslim and not Muslim women and their interesting destinies (Sultanija, Emina, Hasnija, Ore, and the others). Afterwards, there are many interesting love stories born in human hearts despite all forbiddings. There is so much material for numerous tv serials and movies.

SOME OF THE REVIEWS WRITTEN ABOUT SAGA  Respectable Croatian and Bosnian critics have written about "Ilijasbegovichs":

Prof. Hadžem Hajdarević in the reviw "Valter" says: "Connecting a traditional narration and a (post)modernist narrative techniques, Šehoviæ has written a saga in which he interweaned personal fates of wide historical area, from the big earthquake in Dubrovnik (in 1667) to the native, war-like and family earthquakes of the last decade of the 20th century. Between these earthquakes, there is a three and a half hundred years old life which boils in its personal and family dilemmas, dramas and whirlpools, conflicts, disappointments, delusions, rises, heroic acts, self-searchings, dilemmas between tradition and unpredictable challenges that life brings to us and a new (imposed) life circumstance. The Ilijasbegovichs are dignified and tragic, they are upholders of tradition and also its clumsy destroyers. Between Ilijas-beg, the captain from Trebinje from the 17th century and Enver Ilijasbegoviæ from the beginning of the 21st century there is only a difference in "the colour and the quality" of fate".

In numerous literary and other publications are written assessments on "Ilijasbegovichs". Among others we quote the words written by the academic prof. dr. Muhamed Filipović who declares this novel "a historical event of both Croatian and Bosnian literature."…

Famous Croatian literary critic Igor Mandić says for the "Ilijasbegovichs": "We are obviously talking about an undoubted maturity of the writer, about an extraordinary literary work"…adding at the end that " Feða Šehoviæ has definitely confirmed himself with this chronicle which has taken him to the very peak of his prose creation marked by his history novels published under his pseudonym Raul Mitrovich."

The most integral presentation of the chronicle (saga) about the Ilijasbegovichs is written by one of the leading literary critics prof. dr Ivan J. Bošković (Slobodna Dalmacija, August, 2002. entitled       " Penthology with a great story about history". We will pick out its most important fragments: "One thousand and four hundred pages of family-historical fresco "Ilijasbegovichs" is a synthesis of Šehoviæ's literary culture in which are expressed numerous elements of witty literary creation, traditional narration and modern techniques subordinated to stratified but well laid out plot, which comprises three centuries and many characters and their tragic fates interwoven in these Croatian-Bosnian-Balkan-European exposed positions during the whirl of history. The very history brings down its protagonists and whole nations to losers in the game of unpredictable traps; and that is a relief background of Šehoviæ's saga…"        Chronicle takes us deeply to the seventeenth century and introduces us to the captain of Trebinje, Ilijas-beg, whose story is actually a narration about Bosnia as kismet (as says Father Matija still in 1696.); the story is continued by his sons and grandsons, great grandsons, till today; from Hasan-beg who fought against Austria, Eugen Savojski and Ilijas-beg who defends Austrian empire on Soèa and Pijava, to Ilijas-beg and his close relative Enver-beg who is going to be on different sides in the war for Bosnia which is still going on."…         Between two world wars one part of the family abandons its state in Trebinje and moves to the City (Dubrovnik); during the second world war one of the brothers gets hurt "in the Way of the Cross", the other gets burdened by the sin of communism, and the family story is told by the ancestors whose destiny resolves in our time, during the days of Croatian- Muslim war in Bosnia: one gets hurt, the other ends in Hague, witnessing by his death the love and devotion to Bosnia, just like his ancient ancestor, captain of Trebinje Ilijas-beg!        Thus, from the depth of the seventeenth century, fed by social, political, private and collective contents, experiences of great history and lives of ordinary people, with many digressions and narrative "backwaters", retrospections and most different drama intonations, Šehoviæ's story/saga comes in touch with our days; he opens many questions which burden coexistance of different nations whose people think of Bosnia as their country, in the same way like captain of Trebinje and his friend Father Matija loved it and sacrified for it, and whose words of wisdom in the book are continued by Father Ivan. Even though maybe it is not the writer's intention, the story gains its contemporary political allusion which-when speaking about Bosnia- can hardly be avoided!       With his saga, Šehoviæ actually wanted to talk about Bosnia, its life, tradition, people and their destinies, religions, and its kismet. About those who watched over it and protected it, but also about those who sold it out of most different interests and reasons interwoven in such a small area "with so much death".       In Šehović's story the Ilijasbegovichs are "bearers" of Bosnia's air, father Matija (father Ivan) is personification of true wisdom who sees life in understanding the others, and Ore – who is connected to Ilijasbegovichs with their deep and honest friendship- is personification od diplomacy of Dubrovnik introduced in the story by Gjivo. Since history is fate and destiny, meaning more complicated and dramatic than above mentioned pattern, its insatiable mouth with enormous appetites will usually be fed by both, not learning anything from spiritual heritage of those spoken about at the beginning of Šehović's story.       While male characters are bearers of that huge/historical aspect, in their only seemingly shadow, and not subordinate to them, remain two plasticaly described, vital female characters: Hasnija and Ore. Their friendship, arisen still in Sarajevo during their education, full with honesty, kindness and eternal loyalty surpasses the frames of the story and gives a special colorism to the whole book. Inspite of narrow-mindness, ideologies and animosities in history, they confirm that humanity and love can triumph over everything, that they are the forces which overcome all the narowness and hatred from which neither country or area has ever been spared. They give to the life the true beauty and charm that makes the life a riddle worth living, offering with their relation future orientations.       In Ilijasbegovichs, literary maturity of Feða Šehoviæ is evidently expressed; a rich epic narration is fully developed by modern techniques, and its linear frame is spaced out with all the documents, notes and comments, and often changes of narrative techniques and perspectives. His omnipresent narrator exchanges his role with the commentator of historical events, he draws into the third person and listens to what is happening nearby and far away, on the moments he vanishes from the story in order to give a deeper existential echo to the story. That is why there is a place in the story for the dramatic historical events, but also for the intimacy, for public and hidden love, for customs, food, description of rituals, for everything that gives a relief, vital ambiance to the story. Some of these images are true miniatures of narrative art and they are often a connective tissue between sections and times of the books…       With this book about history, which brings individuals and the whole nations down to losers in its game of traps and laws, Šehoviæ has truely written a significant Croatian novel. With its construction complexity, number of characters and their relations during the three centuries and on a wide area of historical-civilisational-religious and natioanl neuralgic relations, we are talking about a literary work that can be compared to great works of literatures more important than ours…