Неке српске паралеле источнословенском Вију (Some Serbian parallels to the East-Slavic Vij)

Abstract

Vij is a kind of monster or rather an archidaemon, appearing in the finale of Gogol’s tale thus entitled. The recent folkloric research confirms that an analogous figure is rooted in the East Slavic tradition. In a story inspired, too, by the popular beliefs, the 19th century Serbian author Milovan Glišić introduces, under similar circumstances, a similar demoniac personage. The resemblance between the both stories consists in the hero spending the night alone in a haunted place and being exposed to more and more dangerous attacks of the evil force, which culminate in the appearance of a lame creature with deeply pending eyelids: in Gogol it is called Vij, in Glišić simply grdoba ‘monster’. In view of the fact that the young Glišić was largely influenced by Gogol, a pure imitation of the latter by the former can not be excluded; nevertheless, it seems more probable that in this particular point the Serbian story‑writer is not slavishly imitating the great Russian, but rather following his example in using some traditional topic he knew from his own country, for in the folklore of this, north‑western part of Serbia and of some other Serbian regions very close parallels to Glišić’s narrative are to be found, which match also its details disagreeing with the Gogol’s story.