THE GHOST IN MARKO CEPENKOV’S STORIES

Abstract

The folklore fiction has always been a significant constitutive part of the popular art, regardless of its genre. The oldest mythic discourses represent the ghost (shadow) as an independent substance closely related to people’s destiny, and it is usually seen as a separate demonological character due to its ability to detach from the human body. There are numerous examples in the Slavic demonology where the ghost keeps its primary meaning of duality (doublet) or an equivalent of the human soul. The ghost can detach from the human body when it dies, while sleeping, or via magic, and then it reincarnates either in the same or into another body. In a similar way, the ghost in all its different manifestations is almost always related to the soul’s journey and afterlife in the Macedonian folk tales. The appearance of the demonological creature (ghost) in the tales makes the reality unusual because the narration includes the codes of fiction which is articulated through the characters’ primary fear of meeting the unknown creature and the attempt to beat the “higher” power. The stories of our copious collector, Marko Cepenkov, are one of the oldest written texts in the Macedonian folklore that have the ghost character. Usually, the ghost in these stories is a result of the collective unconsciousness and the primeval fear of the unknown, incomprehensible, and mythic, or it represents different manifestations of superstitions. From a literary and artistic point of view, Marko Cepenkov’s demonological stories with ghosts represent a distinct tendency to overcome the poetic norms of the traditional folk tales, while by incorporating different views and beliefs for the existence of “higher” powers, they are closer to the folklore fiction’s concepts. That’s why, Cepenkov’s demonological stories with ghosts with narrative and mythic concepts are analyzed here, and the special aspects of his prose are detected as key indicators for his individual and creative contribution to the process of the genesis and constitution of the fiction story in the contemporary Macedonian prose. Consequently, the perception of Marko Cepenkov’s works represents a summarized artistic creation of a Macedonian literary genius, which simultaneously highlights the unquestionable literary talent of collector and belletrist.