Usponi srpske kulture: Knjiźevni, muzički, i likovni život 1900-1918 (review)

Jelena Milojković-Ðurić has published several books on the historical and critical aspects of Serbian culture. Her latest book, Usponi srpske culture Knjiźevni, muzički i likovni život 1900-1918 (Ascents of Serbian Culture: Literary, Musical, and Fine Arts Life 1900-1918), covers one of the most important two decades in Serbian culture. As the title indicates, Milojkovic concentrates on the three most important cultural aspects. Among them individually, she underscores the three leading figures in each field, Jovan Skerlić in literature, Stevan Mokranjac in music, and Paja Jovanović in painting. The first decade of the twentieth century saw significant developments in all these fields, such as in the changes from the realistic to the modernistic, Western approaches in Serbian literature and in the appearance of new writers and critics, in the change from the mostly representational paintings based on historical events and figures to impressionistic ones, among others, and from folklore-based to modern Western music. The author diligently follows such activities. Jovan Skerlić, considered to be the most influential literary critic in the first two decades of the twentieth century, and Bogdan Popović, the founder of Srpski knjiźevni glasnik, receive the lion's share of attention, along with the new writers, such as Aleksa Šantić, Jovan Ðurić, and Milan Rakić. Mokranjac and Paja Jovanovic also led the changes in their fields. At the end of the period covered in the book Milojković-Djurić stresses the fact that those developments were based on a desire for all South Slav nations to unite in one country as Yugoslavia. The rise of the Western influence is also chronicled. All this makes for exciting reading.

The most significant feature of Milojković-Ðurić's study, in this reviewer's view, is that she does not limit herself to the three leading figures mentioned above. She includes other important contributors to literature, music, and painting in each period, mentioning concomitant cultural developments and figures, giving the study as complete a coverage by considering the significance and complexity of developments and figures. At the same time, the author restrains herself from being too theoretical and a complicating analyst found in many studies. Milojković-Ðurić's study reads well, reaches both experts and non-experts in the field. It is almost too tempting to say that, aside from a purely dissertational approach, the author's style gives enough material for anyone interested in the topic.