The rationality of Andrić and Koneski
Balkan space, concerning its diversity, does not need to be a home of human hatred, but simply it should be a “fertile soil” for spiritual, creative, individual, and before all social development. The great old tradition of prejudices towards everything that is strange should be prevailed by the common sense of altruistic behaviour. According to Kant’s convictions, the altruism functions through rationality. Every moral action corresponds to the principals that should be accepted. The real action is harmony with common sense and does not violate its principals. With the new education the tradition fades away, it disappears, and that is exactly what Andrić wants to point out in his works. Through the character of the French vice-consul in Travnik – Deffosse, Andrić expresses the idea about the benevolence as a function of sensitivity and of the favorable spiritual condition of the individual. Deffosse understands everything around him with common sense and a clear though: “Deffosse objectively analyzed everything around him and tried to find the real cause about what happened, without trying to understand the harm or the benefit, amenity or inamenity that he or his Consulate felt”.17F He always respected his collocutors, regardless of their religion or their ideas and attitudes. His tolerance towards the point of view of the other is a result of the way he thinks and on the ability to sense and recognize the real danger. He never shows envy or hatred to his chief. He has no negative emotions; he is not vain or malicious. On the contrary, he possesses all qualities necessary for an altruistic attitude, which give him spiritual broadmindedness and nobleness.
Koneski, with his awaken contemplative gift, wisely notes all altruistic occurrences, beginning from love, joy, play, philanthropy. Sensitivity forces him to think twice before he makes any decision. The act of deep belief in people, of altruistic concern for the benefit of others is included in the following verses: Although the dream gave me right/ to lay a shadow on each forehead, / tell me fairly: have I ever/ offended you, even once, how?”18F He avoids using force, although he possesses it, so as not to offend others, and to provoke their hatred.
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17. Andrić, Ivo, Travnik Chronicles, Svetlost, Sarajevo, 1989, 414.
18. Koneski, Blaže, Poems, Kultura, Skopje, 1990, p. 163.