Mentalităţi oglindite în proza sud-est europeană
Mentalities Reflected in the South-Eastern European Prose

Summary/Abstract: The paper aims at pointing out the resistance to the new and the respect for the old customs obvious in the behaviour of some characters in works written by Mihail Sadoveanu (The Hatchet, The Brothers Jder), Ismail Kadare (Chronicle in Stone, Broken April) and Meša Selimović (Death and the Dervish), examining aspects like: the cult of the guest, the necessity of observing the traditional way of dressing, the laws that govern the Albanian gjakmarrja, the duties connected to the burial rites and the punishment of those guilty of murder. In the novels taken into consideration, until it becomes useful or familiar, the new is perceived as strange, as an element that disturbs the natural order of things. Unwritten laws impose duties that are respected in the traditional communities, however hilarious (like the interdiction of wearing glasses) or serious and terrible (like the laws imposed by the Albanian kanun) they might seem to us. Generally speaking, the old customs have a coercive role. And if the characters ignore them sometimes, it is only because the world is changing and progress is also part of the natural order of things.

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