Writer Enes Duraković passed away in Sarajevo

(Patria) - Enes Duraković, one of the most significant historians of Bosniak and Bosnian-Herzegovinian literature, passed away in Sarajevo today.

Duraković was born in 1947 in Polje near Derventa. Until his retirement in 2012, he was a full professor at the Department of Literature of the Peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Sarajevo, writes stav.ba.

In addition to his own scientific research and work, Enes Duraković's academic work at the Faculty of Philosophy, where he scientifically and pedagogically educated numerous generations of younger researchers, should be particularly emphasized.

He worked in editorial positions in the magazines "Lica, Život i pregled", and also worked on the renewal of the Cultural Association of Bosniaks "Preporod", then as an editor in the publishing houses "Preporod", "Alef" and "Sarajevo-Publishing", and in the editorial offices of the publishing houses "Svjetlost" and "Veselin Masleša".

The first books of Enes Duraković, as well as numerous articles, are the result of careful analytical study of the poetic works of two, according to some opinions, the most significant authors of Bosniak and BH literature: Mak Dizdar and Skender Kulenović.

These are the monographic studies Govor i šutnja tajanstva - pjesničko djelo Maka Dizdara from 1979 and Pjesništvo Skendera Kulenovića from 1983, within which Duraković, using various reading methods, illuminated the entirety of poetic works and opened up possibilities for later, newer readings of their poetry.

Already in 1988, Duraković's book Riječ i svijet: studije i eseji o bh. pjesnicima XX vijeka appeared, which critics described as an anthology, a textbook, and a scientific book at the same time.

Riječ i svijet contains extensive studies on the poets Aleksa Šantić, Jovan Dučić, Musa Ćazim Ćatić, Antun Branko Šimić, Hamza Humo, Nikola Šop, Skender Kulenović, Mak Dizdar, and Anđelko Vuletić.

Chronologically, the books Bošnjačke i bosanske književne neminovnosti from 2003, Arka riječi from 2006, and Obzori bošnjačke književnosti from 2012 follow.

In Duraković's work, the study Obzori bošnjačke književnosti is particularly important, which is the result of many years of experience in researching individual literary works, studying Bosniak literature, its history and internal dynamics, as well as the struggle for its establishment in the wider South Slavic community.

"Finally, Enes Duraković, who in his entire essayistic scientific opus happily combines the literary-historical systematicity of Muhsin Rizvić and Begić's gift for harmonizing with literary works.

After notable essays on Mak Dizdar and Skender Kulenović, and then on all significant BH poets, he prepared the first edition of Bosniak literature; to now, twenty-five years after Biserje, as both author and editor of the 'Alef' edition of the anthology, he offers a picture of what is most valuable in 20th-century Bosniak literature.

And in this way, the long-awaited literary-historical synthesis of Bosniak literature begins to be realized," wrote the late Alija Isaković about the work of Enes Duraković.