Why Do the Serbs Not Have Long Epic Poems: The Episodic Structure of Serbian Oral Epic Poetry

This research examines the structure of the oral poetic “text” in a Serbian heroic epic poem, with particular emphasis on the episode as a core unit of narrativity and its role in shaping the perception of reality. Specifically, the study explores how episodes contribute to constructing a distinct worldview. It will be demonstrated that, as a fragment of the broader worldview, an episode becomes intertwined with the poetic universe at the moment it is performed before a specific audience. The events depicted in the episode are typically framed by retrospection (i.e., referring to past events), while prospective narration – mainly through foreshadowing future events – serves to highlight the significance of these events or introduce the epic biography of the hero or their descendants. In this context, the analysis of the epic poem’s structure and meaning is intrinsically linked to the broader spiritual culture of the ethnosocium and the act of performance itself. Consequently, studying the fundamental elements of the epic poem’s structure and meaning extends beyond the boundaries of literary studies and enters the domains of ethnology, mythology, and cultural studies. The episode, often a self-contained fragment of the worldview, reflects a conceptual synthesis of historical, ethical, and socio-political elements, requiring an interdisciplinary approach for its interpretation. In light of this, the question of why the Serbs do not possess large epic poems is addressed with greater clarity.