Balkan Bohemia

"There are two elements, at least, that are essential to Bohemianism:

The first is devotion or addiction to one or more of the Seven Arts; the other is poverty"

G. Sterling

This explanation refers to the general understanding of the bohemianisam. But the Balkan understanding of this word is much alike to the word "hedonism" insomuch, that they become synonyms. The following are Balkan examples for the main elements that constitute the phenomenon called “Balkan Bohemia”.

Joy

The best depiction of Balkan definition for joy comes from the worldly renowned author, Mesha Selimovich, otherwise known for his deeply meditative, contemplative and reflexive literature.

"Her joy stands above all that I love about her.
Her voice is full of laughter. The abundance of it fills her throat, drips from the lips, then slips and spills all over ringing as if in alarm against bad will. Her laughter knows no reason outside itself, it boils within her, bubbling and bursting, natural as a gazer, pure and irresistible, it appears without warning and without the intention to warn nor to mock, it doesn’t want to be heard or to fill the gap of silence. It has its own sound and color, breath and width, and some peculiar meaning that resembles a cure of wisdom delivered by the alchemy of her innocent joy and lightness of being."

Excerpt from "Silences", 1961

Passion

There is no better example for this element then the one given by the finest example of Balkan Bohemia, Miroslav Mika Antich, the man who eventually died from the overabundance of passion and pleasure in his life. His verses are so authentic and so genuinely soaked with the blood of his bohemianism that they remain almost untranslatable, transforming his lifestyle into something almost non-understandable, something above all rhyme or reason, metaphorical and metaphysical. Therefore, in this case I will sustain from translation and provide a link to one of my favorite poems “Little Rocky Nocturne” in original.

Love above All

Little is known in the world about Anica Savich Rebac, but those that know her, admire her work and adore her philosophy. A person endowed with exceptional intellectual abilities, by the age of thirteen she was already translating Byron in her native language, by eighteen she spoke fluently all classical and leading languages of the world, only to become one of the leading experts in Hellenistic culture and literature. She was adored by the highest intellectuals of her time (among whom Milosh Crnjanski) but she devoted her life to one man only, her husband, so much as to take it by her freewill as soon as his life ended.
The essence of her work could be captured in one word: eroto-logic. She was the inventor of this word and creator of the philosophy behind it. Namely she believed in the unbreakable bond between the material and spiritual aspect of the world, the Eros and the Cosmos, and believed that the man stands in the center of this union. She also believed that the human creativity (rooted in our sensitivity) and intelligence (rooted in our senses) go hand in hand, and manifest together, thus implying that a meaningful life should always embrace both of them equally. Eros is the creative force behind all novel and original experiences, therefore only by surrendering ourselves to our sensitive nature, we would be able to lead life of inspiration and enthusiasm to its fullest.