THE POETRY OF MONASTICISM(S)

Text topic: What Is Medieval: From the Perspective of Dialogue of the East and the West

Text author: Ирена Плаовић

Reaching out to distant Japanese culture, in an attempt to bring it into correlation with Serbian medieval tradition, a comparison is made of The Tale of Saigyo – a story by an unknown author about one of the legendary poets of the ancient Japanese literature from the 13th century, with several motifs from our haghiographies by Domentian and Theodosios. The poet-monk Saigyo is compared with Saint Sava, as a writer, as well as with Peter of Korisha, as an ascete. Special attention is paid to the motif of departure from this world, which is simultaneously an entry into the world of literary creation, as the writer-monk also appears as a literary character in later writings.