ROD I TRANSVESTIJA U HAREMSKOM DISKURSU JELENE DIMITRIJEVIĆ
GENDER AND TRANSVESTY IN JELENA DIMITRIJEVIĆ’S HAREM’S DISCOURSE

Summary/Abstract: This paper discusses the controversial part of the travelogue Letters from Niš about harems (1897), written by Jelena Dimitrijević (1862–1945) a remarkable and original woman who with her art pieces, ideas and active travelling overcame the boundaries of Serbian patriarchal reality at the turn from the 19th to the 20th century. According to the postulates accepted in contemporary feminist and imagologist theories, it analyses the following elements: the observation of harem’s culture and approach towards female sexuality and lesbian practice in a patriarchal society. By the examples from the text, it is demonstrated how Jelena Dimitrijević demystifies harem’s essence logged by taboos, prejudice and erotic connotations. In concluding remarks it is said that the writer (in his travelogue report) revealed a female subculture that symbolizes resistance to male domination on the social, cultural and sexual level. Turkish attitude toward sexuality, as biological, social and physical concept, applies to several levels: as the theoretical respect for religious and moral law, but also through living practices, based on modeling of these rules (the practice of homosexual/ lesbian relationships) which is a consequence of the rigid system, but also includes the freedom in moving the boundaries of sexual pleasure. In conclusion it is emphasised that Jelena Dimitrijević overcame the boundaries of Serbian female literature and approached international feminist discourse with her works. That gives her a dominant role in future establishing of the history of female literature.

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