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Đorđe Jovanović (writer)

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Đorđe Jovanović
Ђорђе Јовановић
A photo of Đorđe Jovanović.
Born(1909-10-27)27 October 1909
Belgrade, Kingdom of Serbia
Died23 July 1943(1943-07-23) (aged 33)
Slatina, German occupied Serbia
OccupationWriter
Period20th century
GenreEssay, novel, poetry
Literary movementSurrealism
Socialist realism

Đorđe Jovanović (Serbian Cyrillic: Ђорђе Јовановић; 27 October 1909 – 23 July 1943) was a Serbian literary critic and Surrealist poet and writer during the interwar period.[1] Along with his two high school classmates, Oskar Davičo and Đorđe Kostić, Jovanović represented the younger generation of the Yugoslav Surrealist movement.[2]

Jovanović was often referred to by his nickname Jarac (billy goat).[3]

Early life[edit]

Đorđe Jovanović was born on 27 October 1909 in Belgrade.[4] He was the son of Jovan "Kalča" and Danka Jovanović.[5][6] Đorđe's father was a colonel.[7]

Đorđe Jovanović became friends with his classmate and future co-author Đorđe Kostić around 1920, when they discussed the expulsion of a mutual classmate for spreading communist literature during Filip Filipović's mayoral campaign.[8] The two initially bonded over their shared admiration for Miroslav Krleža and August Cesarec.[9] They first became captivated by poetry after reading the poem Stražilovo by Miloš Crnjanski.[10]

Pre-Surrealist activities[edit]

Along with another classmate, Oskar Davičo, Kostić and Jovanović would go on to represent the younger generation of the Yugoslav Surrealist movement. Before joining the core of the local movement in 1930, the group would publish several literary magazines during their high school years.[2][11][12] The group's first foray into publishing was the single-issue magazine Okna (Panes), published in 1925 and edited by Jovanović.[13] Okna featured the first published prose of Oskar Davičo.[2]

Jovanović's early poetry was inspired by the writings of Robert Desnos

In 1926, Jovanović and Kostić, alongside Filip Vasić and Božidar Z. Marković, published the magazine Stišavanja (Becalmings). The magazine was inspired by the writings of Robert Desnos, and included a translation of his poetry. It also featured Jovanović's critical essays on Ljubomir Micić, Stanislav Vinaver, Aleksandar Vučo, Rade Drainac and others, as well as an innovative short story by Jovanović titled "A Castle neither in the Sky nor on Earth (Composed According to the Words of the Vagabond Njegovan)". Filip Vasić provided the illustrations for Stišavanja.[11][2][14] The title of the magazine was a reference to Kostić and Jovanović's belief that after the cessation of avant-garde magazines Svedočanstva and Putevi, the movement had entered a phase of stagnation.[15]

Around this time, Jovanović was expelled from the First Belgrade Gymnasium for refusing to obey the dress code. He transferred to the Fourth Belgrade Gymnasium where he would meet Dušan Matić, one of his teachers at the time.[16] According to Đorđe Kostić, it was during this time that Jovanović struggled with alcoholism, started abusing ether and developed a personal ethic of being "lifelike", eschewing nonconformism and adopting a hedonistic attitude. Because of all this, the two drifted apart for a short while.[17] They reconnected in the autumn of 1927, when Jovanović introduced his former classmate to Matić. Soon after, Jovanović enrolled at the University of Belgrade to study philosophy.[18] In 1928, Jovanović introduced Matić to Oskar Davičo, who took an instant liking to him after discussing their shared disdain for mainstream poets like Jovan Dučić and Milan Rakić, as well as the literary critic Bogdan Popović.[19]

Between 1928 and 1929, Jovanović and Kostić, together with Davičo, published three issues of the literary magazine Tragovi (Traces). The magazine was intentionally limited to an exceptionally small circulation, namely only eight copies of each issue were printed. The readers were mostly known in advance and belonged to the Surrealist group, to whom Tragovi would serve as a short anthology presenting the styles of the three collaborators.[2] The trio would go on to produce three issues of the magazine in which they implemented elements of Surrealist automatism. Jovanović's poems were less inspired by Surrealism, and displayed an attitude of anarchic individualism and revolt.[12] During his work on Tragovi, he was enamored with the Bonnot Gang and frequently discussed the idea that each excess could represent an affirmation of freedom.[20] In his op-ed Marginalije (Marginalia) in Letopis Matice Srpske, Marko Ristić praised the magazine for its innovation and aesthetic appeal. However, he also critiqued the group for somewhat rigidly adhering to the principle of "art for art's sake," cautioning that this approach could lead to potential misunderstandings, especially with poems lacking contextual explanation. Jovanović was dissatisfied with his critique, which he expressed to Ristić in a disheartened letter.[12]

During 1928, Jovanović was briefly married to a girl in Skopje, in accordance with the wishes of his father. The couple had a baby girl, and agreed to a divorce almost instantly.[21]

Surrealism[edit]

Formation and Četiri strane[edit]

Following the publication of the final issue of Tragovi, Jovanović, Kostić and Davičo wanted to expand their circle. They envisioned launching a new series of Tragovi which would include their teacher Dušan Matić, and potentially Aleksandar Vučo and Milan Dedinac.[15] Their plans took shape when Jovanović first met Marko Ristić at the theater, where he discussed the idea with Ristić and Matić.[22] Matić suggested extending the invitation to Ristić, citing his prior collaboration with Vučo, Dedinac and himself on Svedočanstva. His students agreed and the nucleus of the Surrealist group convened for the first time in the summer of 1929.[15]

On 30 November 1929, the group convened for their second meeting at Aleksandar Vučo's apartment. Organized by Vučo and Ristić, this gathering brought together members from both the Tragovi and Svedočanstva circles, as well as contributors from the magazine 50 u Evropi (50 in Europe) and the literary critic Velibor Gligorić. During the meeting, tensions escalated between Jovanović and Gligorić, leading to a confrontation that resulted in Jovanović, with the assistance of Oskar Davičo, forcibly removing Gligorić from the premises due to his status as an employee of the state.[23] Following the meeting, Jovanović reached out to Dušan Matić in December with the idea of establishing a new magazine. The attendees of the November meeting responded to a formal questionnaire over joining the new Surrealist group in January 1930.[24]

In early 1930, Jovanović, Kostić and Davičo published their final project together, the experimental single-issue placard magazine Četiri strane – Onanizam smrti – I tako dalje (Four Pages – Onanism of Death – And So On). The publication is sometimes considered a series of posters because of its innovative typographic design.[25] Marko Ristić welcomed its publication in his op-ed in Politika.[12]

Nemoguće[edit]

In May 1930, the first Surrealist almanac the group authored was published under the title Nemoguće (The Impossible). The publication opened with the Surrealists' answers to the earlier questionnaire compiled by Marko Ristić and titled Čeljust dijalektike (The Jaw of the Dialectic), and closed with a short history of the group titled Uzgred budi rečeno (By the Way) and written by Ristić and Matić.[26][27]

In Čeljust dijalektike, the younger Tragovi group tended to favor shorter, ironic and subversive answers.[28] The trio distinguished themsleves from the rest of the group proclaiming their disbelief in miracles.[29][30] However, divisions arose between them on the questions of "constant suicide" and "mythologization", ideas which they had discussed during the production of Četiri strane. Jovanović regarded the elevation of one's personality into myth a justifiable reaction to mortality and viewed it as the ultimate imposition of oneself on their environment.[31] He declared Kostić and Davičo "onanists of death".[32] Jovanović referenced this label in a separate essay in Nemoguće, proclaiming his "onanism of life".[33] During this debate, Matić tried to mediate between Ristić and Jovanović, writing an automatic text in which he tried to explore common ground between the two.[31]

At the time, Jovanović was drawn to individualist anarchism. In Čeljust dijalektike, he was the sole member of the group to proclaim his embrace of the existence of evil, arguing that good could not exist without it, in the spirit of Comte de Lautréamont.[34] Jovanović sardonically described his participation in the group as a betrayal of his individualism.[35] On the question of his relation to French Surrealism, Jovanović opined that he accepted the essence of the Breton's first Manifesto, as well as Louis Aragon's Preface to a Modern Mythology from Le Paysan de Paris. He identified Bitka oko zida by Dušan Matić and Bez mere by Marko Ristić as his strongest influences from Belgrade Surrealism, advocating for a parallel approach between the Paris and Belgrade groups. Jovanović considered both to be influential sources in the realization of his "integral revolt".[36][37]

In October, the Surrealist group got into several physical confrontations with Rade Drainac after the publishing of his openly disdainful and derogatory article on the group in the magazine Pravda. According to Drainac, he was beaten by the entire group.[38] However, according to Đorđe Kostić, Drainac got into a short scuffle with Jovanović and himself, during which Jovanović grabbed Drainac by the coat and Kostić blocked his arm when he swung at them with a walking stick. Kostić claimed that Radojica Živanović Noe beat Drainac only later that night in a one-on-one fight near Hotel Moskva.[39] Several members of the group signed an announcement outlining a similar story in late October.[38]

Soon after the publication of Nemoguće, Jovanović left poetry and devoted himself to literary criticism.[40] He would meet daily at Hotel Moskva with Kostić, Davičo and Noe. They were often joined by two girls, Šana Lukić and Vera Matić, as well as Dušan Matić.[41]

Self-critique[edit]

During the summer and fall of 1930, Jovanović often met with Kostić, Davičo and Noe at Aleksandar Vučo's vineyard in Topčidersko Brdo. Disappointed with Marko Ristić who had recently started writing for the magazine Vreme and inspired by the worsening effects of the Great Depression, Davičo, Jovanović and Kostić proposed the writing of a new declaration to Dušan Matić. The declaration, titled Pozicija nadrealizma (The Position of Surrealism), was signed on 23 December 1930 by eleven of the thirteen signatories of Nemoguće, including Jovanović. It was more explicitly Marxist than their previous publications and advocated for a violent revolt. The declaration was published in January 1931 and was swiftly banned. It would later appear in the third issue of Breton's Le Surrealisme au service de la revolution.[42][43]

In June 1931, the group published the review Nadrealizam danas i ovde (Surrealism Here and Now). The review signed 11 editors, with Jovanović signed as editor in chief. The review would continue until June 1932.[42]

Arrest and departure from Surrealism[edit]

Jovanović was arrested on 1 December 1932 along with fellow Surrealist Koča Popović, and was indicted for reproducing and distributing communist leaflets at the University of Belgrade. After a five-day trial, on 17 June 1933 he was sentenced to three years of rigorous imprisonment by the National Court for the Protection of the State, set up during the 6 January Dictatorship. Đorđe served his sentence at the Sremska Mitrovica Prison. His arrest was preceded by the sentencing of Oskar Davičo to five years of prison several days before.[44][4]

After his release from prison, Jovanović drifted from Surrealism, as the movement lost favor with the Communist Party of Yugoslavia. The former Surrealist group split into two sections, with one section, including Davičo, Kostić, Matić and Jovanović, making the gradual transition to socialist realism or social literature.[45][4]

Literary criticism[edit]

During these years, Jovanović became a contributor in Matić and Vučo's new magazine Naša stvarnost (Our Reality).[46] He would often publish under the pseudonym Đorđe Daničić.[4]

Final years and death[edit]

In 1941, Jovanović joined the Yugoslav Partisans. After their retreat from Serbia, Jovanović went back to Belgrade to join the Kosmaj Partisan Detachment.[4] He became the political commissar of his detachment on 6 October 1941.[47] In 1943, Jovanović wrote in the illegal magazine Glas (The Voice) under the pseudonym Danilo Dragić, denouncing writers from the Serbian Literary Guild and Kolarac Endowment who agreed to collaborate with the Nazi occupation.[48]

Đorđe Jovanović was killed in Slatina near Kosmaj on 23 July 1943. A novel authored by him and several books of his essays were published posthumously.[4] During the occupation, his corpse was displayed in the center of Sopot as a warning.[3]

Legacy[edit]

The Stari Grad department of the Belgrade City Library carries the name of Đorđe Jovanović.[49] Starting in 1967, the municipal library awards the annual "Đorđe Jovanović Award" for best critical essay.[50]

Works[edit]

  • (1948) Plati pa nosi (Pay, Then Carry), novel
  • (1949) Studije i kritike (Studies and Critiques), essays
  • (1951) Protiv obmana (Against Deceptions), essays
  • (1979) Snebapaurebra (Outoftheblue), poetry

References[edit]

  1. ^ Bédé, Jean Albert; Edgerton, William Benbow (1980). Columbia Dictionary of Modern European Literature. ISBN 9780231037174.
  2. ^ a b c d e Andonovska 2019, pp. 126–128.
  3. ^ a b Puzić, Predrag (31 October 2001). "Zašto Srbija danas ćuti: Marko Ristić šalje u smrt". Glas javnosti (in Serbian). Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Enciklopedija Jugoslavije, pp. 536–537.
  5. ^ Kostić 1972, p. 114.
  6. ^ Kostić 1972, p. 36.
  7. ^ Živanović, Milan Ž. (1955). Solunski proces hiljadu devetsto sedamnaeste: prilog za proučavanje političke istorije Srbije od 1903 do 1918 god (in Serbian). Belgrade: Srpska akademija nauka. p. 740. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  8. ^ Kostić 1972, p. 7.
  9. ^ Kostić 1972, p. 19.
  10. ^ Kostić 1972, pp. 33–36.
  11. ^ a b Andonovska 2013, pp. 7–8.
  12. ^ a b c d Kapidžić-Osmanagić 1966, pp. 160–169.
  13. ^ Popović 2009, p. 30.
  14. ^ Kostić 1972, pp. 66–67.
  15. ^ a b c Kostić 1989, pp. 9–22.
  16. ^ Kostić 1972, p. 53.
  17. ^ Kostić 1972, pp. 94–106.
  18. ^ Kostić 1972, pp. 113–115.
  19. ^ Popović 2009, p. 42.
  20. ^ Kostić 1972, p. 227.
  21. ^ Kostić 1972, p. 197.
  22. ^ Kostić 1972, p. 279.
  23. ^ Popović 2009, pp. 55–56.
  24. ^ Kapidžić-Osmanagić 1966, pp. 190–192.
  25. ^ Andonovska 2013, pp. 15–17.
  26. ^ Kapidžić-Osmanagić 1966, pp. 184–187.
  27. ^ Kostić 1989, pp. 23–24.
  28. ^ Kapidžić-Osmanagić 1966, pp. 203–204.
  29. ^ Kapidžić-Osmanagić 1966, p. 212.
  30. ^ Kostić 1989, p. 210.
  31. ^ a b Kostić 1989, pp. 178–191.
  32. ^ Kapidžić-Osmanagić 1966, pp. 209–210.
  33. ^ Kapidžić-Osmanagić 1966, p. 220.
  34. ^ Kapidžić-Osmanagić 1966, p. 204.
  35. ^ Kostić 1989, p. 103.
  36. ^ Kapidžić-Osmanagić 1966, pp. 206–207.
  37. ^ Kostić 1989, pp. 66–69.
  38. ^ a b Popović 2009, pp. 62–66.
  39. ^ Kostić 1972, pp. 22–23.
  40. ^ Kostić 1989, p. 224.
  41. ^ Kostić 1989, p. 31.
  42. ^ a b Popović 2009, pp. 67–70.
  43. ^ Kostić 1991, pp. 17–27.
  44. ^ Popović 2009, pp. 87–88.
  45. ^ Sretenović 2019, pp. 9–10.
  46. ^ Popović 2009, p. 103.
  47. ^ Zbornik dokumenata i podataka o narodno-oslobodilačkom ratu jugoslovenskih naroda: knj. 1-21. Borbe u Srbiji, Vojvodini i Kosovu 1941-1944 god. Vojno-istoriski institut Jugoslovenske armije. 1956. p. 205.
  48. ^ Popović 2009, p. 120.
  49. ^ "Odeljenje biblioteka "Đorđe Jovanović" Stari grad". bgb.rs (in Serbian). Biblioteka grada Beograda. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
  50. ^ "Dodela nagrade "Đorđe Jovanović" za 2014.godinu". bgb.rs (in Serbian). Biblioteka grada Beograda. Archived from the original on 14 July 2018. Retrieved 27 December 2022.

Sources[edit]

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