Literature

National Roma or oral literature began to be collected and written down at the end of the XVI century. At the beginning of the XVII c. the merit of European linguists and researchers who were interested in the Roma language appeared. A significant contribution to Roma folk literature was made by the Society of Roma heritage (Gypsy Lore Society), founded in Liverpool in 1888, in the journal "Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society," which was published by the end of the 1980s.

Within the Roma folk poetry, the most visible is the poetry (gilja), while the number of epic poems is insignificant. In this respect, a significant collection of songs was gathered by Rade Uhlik, a renowned researcher of the Roma language and heritage, and the Serbian poet Branko V. Radičević in his book "Gypsy Poetry" (1982), which was met with great approval in Europe. Prose forms are very diverse and include the myths and legends, riddles (Garuda lion), word games, riddles, proverbs and explicitly, a variety of stories, fairy tales, animal stories, funny stories, historical stories, the stories of emperors, kings and more.

Roma literature was formed, however, only in the XX. Century. In the USSR, in Moscow, where Aleksandr Germano created the first literary circle. A special place in the Roma literature belongs to the texts about the Holocaust, which is shared by the texts of anonymous authors whose texts, especially the songs, have become part of the collective memory, and the book of survivor victims.

 

References:

DUNIN, E. (1971). »Gypsy wedding: Dance and Customs«, Makedonski folklor, Skopje, 7-8, str.

317–325.

IVANČIĆ, S. (1995). »O tradiciji Roma«, Romano akharipe – Glas Roma, Virovitica, br. 4, str. 8–9.