Preface to the Special Issue on Laza K. Lazarević

Laza K. Lazarević

This issue of the Serbian Studies is dedicated to Laza K. Lazarević (1851-91), a prominent Serbian medical doctor and writer. Lazarević was born in Šabac, to a merchant father, Kuzman, and a homemaker mother, Jelka. In 1860, Laza's father died and his mother took care of her son and three daughters. After finishing high school in 1865, Lazarević went to Belgrade where he became a student in the Faculty of Law at Velika škola (Serbian School of Higher Education). There he was an admirer of Svetozar Markovic, and translated Gogol's "Diary of a Madman," and a part of Nikolay Chernyshevsky's novel, What Is To Be Done? In 1872, Laza K. Lazarević became a medical student in Berlin, where he earned a medical degree in 1879. In between he participated as a field doctor in the Serbo-Turkish War of 1876 and 1878, and later became the personal physician to Serbian king Milan Obreno-vić. Together with the first Serbian female doctor, Draga Ljočić (1855-1926), Lazarević voluntarily took care of female students.

Laza K. Lazarević was an internationally reputable medical doctor and scholar. He published many scholarly papers in local and foreign journals. In 1880, he described a medical phenomenon that is named after him and Dr. Lasègue in neurology, The Lazarević/Lasègue sign (Straight leg raise).

During his life Lazarević published only eight stories, leaving several in manuscript form, some of them unfinished. His first published work, "Prvi put s ocem na jutrenje" ("To Matins with Father for the First Time," 1879), was immediately recognized as a great story. In 1881, Lazarević married Poleksija Hristic (1861-1933), daughter of Nikola Hristic (1818-1911), a powerful politician. They had three sons and a daughter.

Lazarević's stories first appeared in magazines, and in 1886, after being encouraged by friends, his stories were published as Šest pripovedaka (Six stories). The stories included "Prvi put s ocem na jutrenje" ("To Matins with Father for the First Time"), "Školska ikona" ("A School's Icon"), "U dobri cas hajduci!" ("Well Done, Robbers!"), "Na bunaru" ("At the Well"), "Verter" ("Werther"), and "Sve će to narod pozlatiti" ("The People Will Reward All of This"). After the book, Lazarević published only two more stories: "Vetar" ("The Wind") and "On zna sve" ("He Knows Everything"). In 1898, seven years after Lazarević's death, editors assembled the fragments from his story "Švabica" ("The German Girl") and published it.

Historians of Serbian literature valued Laza K. Lazarević as the founder of Serbian psychological stories, but his contribution to Serbian literature and culture may be found in the subversion of patriarchal ideas, which was a bold action at the time. For more than a century Lazarević's stories have been a part of elementary and high school curriculum and in studies of Serbian literature as well. One of his most beautiful stories, "To Matins with Father for the First Time," has been part of the syllabus of Serbian high schools and is studied at the university level as well. Nonetheless, the fictional aspect of it has not been valued to its full potential, but rather interpreted in a subjective manner— by a long-present interpretative norm. This study seeks to offer an alternative interpretation of Lazarević's best-loved work—more insightful and appreciative of one of Serbia's best realist writers.

This research is a part of my effort to include the concept of feminism and designate the sphere of the female writer into Serbian culture. The exclusion and misinterpretation of female fictional characters is comparable to the exclusion of women authors from a canon. Both acts are linked to the reductionist construction of Serbian realism and manipulative strategies of the relevant authorities. This exclusion over time gave rise to the impression that there were either no women fiction authors or that their work was of no consequence. This view inevitably obstructs a deeper understanding of Serbian realist fiction. To prove this point on a well known case, I compare Lazarević's fiction with that of...