ПРЕТСТАВИТЕ НА ПЕКОЛОТ И ЃАВОЛОТ ВО МАКЕДОНСКАТА КНИЖЕВНОСТ ОД XIX ВЕК
DEPICTIONS OF HELL AND THE DEVIL IN MACEDONIAN LITERATURE IN THE 19th CENTURY

Summary/Abstract: In this paper, we analyze the depictions of hell and the devil in Macedonian literature, in the 19th century. Notable works of moralizing-didactic character in Macedonian literature are found in the first half of the 19th century, in the texts of Kiril Pejcinovich, Theodosij Sinaitski and especially Joakim Krchovski. Moreover, depictions of hell and the devil are found in various manuscripts and the works of Grigor Prlicev, Jonche P. Snegar, Janaki Strezov, in the folklore art by Miladinovci brothers, Stefan Verkovic, the Molerovi brothers, in the remarkable stories by Marko Cepenkov and others. Their descriptions, mention, and understanding of the term hell refer primarily to fire, as dominant component of the Last Judgment, the place where sinners end up. It can also be concluded that literary texts are stricter in penalizing perversion and crime. Thus, in folklore art, the sale of the devil’s soul or its association with it leads to the torment of the body in hell. Yet, even under such conditions, there are examples in which the outcasts were delivered by fire or by the will of God in the cauldron. The literary records of Macedonian writers know no forgiveness and the possibility of deliverance: hell is dark, gloomy, and a hermetically closed place from which there is no way out. As it can be seen from their and other texts in question, the depictions of hell and the devil in the 19th century Macedonian literature primarily have a moralizing-didactic role, which through such plays was intended to deter believers from bad deeds and approaching ethical and moral behavior.

• Details
• Contents