Contemporary Serbian writers. Serbian literature of the 18th century: themes and features

A. Dobrovolsky

The first rudiments of S. l. date back to the end of the 12th and beginning of XIII V. (the so-called “Gospel of Miroslav” and other monuments). This and almost all subsequent medieval S. l. is of an ecclesiastical nature. These are the gospels, missals, canons, lives of saints and apocrypha. Among these monuments - and there are about 2,000 of them - only the Code of Tsar Dushan (Dushan's Law) of the 14th century is slightly more widely known. as an important historical monument. Among these monuments there are also a number of medieval novels that are completely unoriginal, for example. novel about Alexander the Great. During the transition from the Middle to the New Ages, the Serbian state perishes, the Serbian ruling class (“the rulers”) goes over to Mohammedanism and is denationalized. Literary work from the XV-XVIII centuries. cultivated only in monasteries and continues to serve exclusively the needs of the church. But on the other hand, folklore is developing enormously, especially epics glorifying the ancient Serbian kings (King Lazar, etc.), heroes (Kralevich Marko, Milos Obilic, etc.) and “haiduks”, the death of the Serbian state in the Battle of Kossovo, etc. Research has shown that most of these Serbian folk songs arose much later (200 years later) after the death of the Serbian state, when Turkish oppression began to unbearably intensify, so that the death nation state began to be perceived as a loss of freedom in general, although serfdom existed among the Serbs even before the arrival of the Turks. The struggle of the Serbian peasants against the feudal oppression of the Turkish landowners and the Turkish authorities, glorified in the epic, has a religious and national overtones, but in it one can also find a number of moments where this struggle is clearly perceived as a class struggle (“Revolt against the Dahies” - “Buna na Dahie”, songs about the haiduk “Elder Vuyadina”). The artistic value of the Serbian epic is very high, although it was often exaggerated by comparison with the songs of the Iliad, etc. The collector of Serbian folklore was who lived in the first half of the 19th century. Vuk Stefanovic Karadzic (1787-1864).

S. l. in the proper sense arose only in the 18th century. among the Serbian bourgeoisie (main merchants), which developed under the conditions of emigration of Serbs who settled in southern Hungary. It grew stronger largely thanks to the patronage of the Austrian Emperor Joseph II. The earlier Dubrovnik literature should be attributed both in terms of language and in its historical destinies to one of the historical periods of Croatian literature. At first, just like the medieval Serbian language itself, it is more of a “writing” than a literature. The language of early Serbian writing is not Serbian folk, but the so-called. “Slavic Serbian” is a mixture of Russian, Serbian folk and Church Slavonic languages. This literature was under strong Russian influence, since Serbian priests, almost the only literate people at that time, studied in Russia or had Russian teachers. Peter I also sent the Serbs the first literature teacher M. T. Suvorov - these were the first literary beginnings of pan-Slavist politics Tsarist Russia in relation to the Serbs, a policy that specifically appeared in in this case maneuver against Austria and Turkey. From literary monuments XVIII V. we can mention the “Slavic-Serbian Chronicle” by Count Georgiy Brankovich (1645-1711) and the works of Zakhary Stefanovich-Orfelin (1726-1785) - “The Life of Peter the Great”, etc. end of the XVIII V. (1791) the first Serbian gas appeared in Vienna. "Serbian Novini". By the end of the 18th century. In connection with the development of the Serbian bourgeois class and the desire to create a nationally independent state, the desire to organize the Serbian literary language is awakening. from elements of Serbian folk speech. Of course, this language was still very little developed and reflected the ideology of the class that was its main organizer - the class of the Serbian bourgeoisie of the era of the disintegration of feudalism and the maturation of capitalist relations in specific historical conditions fight against Turkish feudal oppression. The first writer in the vernacular Serbian language, although quite contaminated with “Slavic-Serbianism,” was Dosifej Obradović (1742–1811), a pioneer of the educational ideas that dominated the West at that time among the Serbs. His main works: “Belly and Adventures” (1783) and “Fables” (1788). The era of Obradovic is commonly called the “era of rationalism.” She was a literary harbinger and companion of the Serbian struggle against Turkish feudal oppression at the beginning of the 19th century.

In the first half of the 19th century. in connection with some successes in this struggle, the partial liberation of Serbia from the Turks and further progress among the Serbian bourgeoisie within the capitalized Austria, the separation fiction from literature in general. A number of writers, poets and novelists appeared, writing partly in the folk, partly in the “Slavic-Serbian” language; but their works (for example, the poems of Lukijan Musicki (1777-1837) or the novels of Milovan Vidakovic (1780-1841)) have long been outdated and are of only historical interest. The exception is the Montenegrin bishop and head of state Petr Petrovich Njegosh, who lived at the same time (1813-1851), the author of the famous poem “Mountain Vijenac”, one of best works S. l., which describes the life and way of life of the Montenegrins. At the same time, the well-known reformer of the Serbian language and writing among Slavists, Vuk Stefanovic Karadzic, lived and worked. His largest literary undertaking was the collection of Serbian folk songs. The era of the revolution of 1848 and the elimination of the foundations of feudalism in Europe is the era when Karadzic's reform ideas in the field of language received universal recognition (around 1840-1860). Similar to similar phenomena at the dawn of capitalist development in Europe and in S. l. Poetry and prose are widely developed in the stylistic forms of romanticism, which responded to the demands of the craving for bourgeois degeneration of Serbian literary circles. The largest writers of this type were poets: Branko Radicevic (1824-1853) - a cheerful lyricist; Zmaj-Jovan Jovanovic (1833-1904) - the most educated writer of this time, very prolific, with a broad outlook, who managed to write wonderful songs for children, and political satire, and glorify ideals in the taste of a national-democratic worldview, and, most interesting of all, Paris Commune; Gyura Jakšić (1832-1878) - romanticist, poet of great strength (but very weak in prose); partly Laza Kostic (1841-1910) - poet and playwright; Jovan Ilic, etc. Of the prose writers, not one has achieved such universal recognition as the first three of the poets. Stefan Mitrov Lubisha (1824-1878) and M. G. Milicevic (1831-1898) stand out somewhat, providing interesting folkloristic and linguistic material in their works, as well as M. P. Shapchanin. K. Trifković (1848-1875) is famous as playwrights, and even more so is his predecessor Jovan Steria Popović, whose satire “Godolyubtsi”, exposing petty-bourgeois patriotism, is relevant to this day. In the era of romanticism in Siberian literature, in particular in poetry, the themes and artistic techniques of folklore are still strong, but Western influences also penetrate. However, the influence of Western literature is extremely weak compared to the folklore element. In the revolution of 1848, the Serbs, together with their writers, played a counter-revolutionary role, which also led to increased national isolation in literature. In the second half of the 19th century, on the contrary, due to the growth of the capitalist bourgeoisie and the development of broader ties with the foreign market, the general ideological guidelines in the Serbian literary process also changed. In the 70-80s. XIX century Bourgeois-realist literature is widely developing, which no longer fences itself off from the “rotten West”, but joins it and learns from it. Serbia, which by this time had become a politically independent country, attracts cultural forces those parts of the Serbian people who lived in Austria-Hungary. If earlier, in the 18th and early 19th centuries. center S. l. was in a foreign land, in Vienna and Budapest, and in mid-19th V. - to the mountains New Garden, in southern Hungary (“Serbian Athens”), now Serbia itself and Belgrade in particular are increasingly becoming such a center. Nevertheless, general cultural development and in particular the development of S. l. in Austria-Hungary it is not weakening, but strengthening. Here there is a closer rapprochement between the Serbs and Croats, but still the merger of S. l. does not happen with Croatian.

The era of bourgeois realism was marked by the restructuring of the “romantics”, like Zmaj-Jovan Jovanovic, in a “realistic manner” and the emergence of a number of writers who introduced realistic techniques and social and political trends into literature. In general, until this time S. l. characterized by educational didactics, Slavophilism and most of all nationalism, but only a few writers were able to artistically express these tendencies. “The era of realism” also means a turning point in this regard, but in S. l. Elements of romanticism still live for a long time, because they are more consistent with the dominant nationalist tendency, sometimes turning into chauvinism.

The most typical writers for this era are the excellent stylist, short story writer “Serbian Turgenev” Laza Lazarevich (1851-1890), Milovan Glisic (1847-1908), the first realistic writer of everyday life of the Serbian village, good translator from Russian (“War and Peace”), Sima Matavul (1852-1908), writer of everyday life of all bourgeois social classes on the territory of modern Yugoslavia, realist humorist Stevan Sremac (1855-1906), poet Vojislav Ilyich (1862-1894), from which modern Serbian poetry begins. This period also marks the beginning literary activity the popular humorist and playwright Branislav Nušić (b. 1864) and subsequently the major poet Aleksi Šantić (1868–1924), who had big influence on Serbian nationalist youth until 1914. Along with the increasing influence of Western literature (French, etc.), in this era, a significant influence of Russian literature is also noticeable, since a significant part of the Serbian intelligentsia also studied in Russia. At this time, many translations of Russian classics were made: Gogol, Pushkin, Lermontov, Turgenev, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, etc. In the era of transition to realism, the activity of Svetozar Markovich (1846-1875), a student and follower of Chernyshevsky and Russian populists, developed, which laid the foundation for the interest towards socialism in Serbia and the Balkans. He did little actual literature, writing only two articles on the topic of poetry and realism, but they had a great influence and contributed to the establishment of literature in S.L. realism.

On the threshold of the 20th century and in the 20th century. bourgeois S. l. rises to the highest level. Despite the fact that S. l. and during this period did not produce works that were included in world literature, nevertheless, a number of Serbian writers did not lag behind the same writers of “local” significance from other countries, which was greatly facilitated by the establishment of a constitutional democratic regime in Serbia in 1903, which gave even more wide open space development of capitalism in Serbia. In 1901, the literary magazine “Srpski Kizhevni Glasnik” and a number of others appeared. literary criticism(Bogdan Popović, (b. 1863) - Jovan Skerlić (1877-1914)). The leading type of literature at this time, as in the 19th century, was poetry. The most prominent representatives of Serbian poetry at this time were Jovan Ducic (b. 1871), who was brought up under the strong influence of French bourgeois literature, Milon Rakic, one of the best masters Serbian poetry, Aleksa Santic, bard of Serbian nationalism, Stevan Lukovic, “decadents” S. Pandurovich and Vl. Petkovic-Dis (1880-1917), M. Koralia (b. 1886), etc. Bourgeois S. L., reflecting the corresponding processes in the social and political development of Serbian bourgeois society, highlights whole line ideologists of the petty bourgeoisie, the poorest peasantry, raising their voices against certain aspects of the bourgeois system. So, for example Among the prose writers, one should mention Petr Kočić (1877-1916) - the ideologist of the nationally and socially enslaved Serbian Bosnian peasantry (his satire “The Trial of the Badger” is remarkable), I. Ciniko - the whistleblower of the kulaks (the novel “Spiders”), Rad. Domanovic (1873-1908) - author of the satire “Kralevich Marko for the second time among the Serbs”, Bor. Stankovic - a writer of everyday life of collapsing patriarchal social relations in the Serbian southern province, Milutin Uskokovic - the first everyday writer of urban life in Serbia. At the same time, there were also recognized poetesses and writers, such as Donica Markovic (b. 1879), Isidora Sekulic (b. 1877). In dramaturgy, comedian Br. Nusic (b. 1864). It should be noted that the proletariat, which had just begun to develop in Serbia, managed at that time to nominate the talented but early deceased poet Kosta Abrashevich (1879-1898).

The era of wars for Serbia that began in 1912 (two Balkan and a world war), the realization as a result of these wars of the “centuries-old dreams” of the Serbian people and its complete unification in the newly created State of Yugoslavia did not produce corresponding results in the literature. This is explained by the fact that the national liberation moment in these wars played a completely secondary role, as was noted at one time by Lenin. The freedom-loving national dreams that inspired Serbian poets and writers were crushed by the imperialist claims of the Great Serbian bourgeoisie. The unsightly reality of the war, which took almost a quarter of the entire Serbian people to the grave, and the state and social orders established as a result led to big disappointment among petty-bourgeois writers and ideologists of that part of the bourgeoisie that was, to one degree or another, bypassed in the process of development of the imperialist policy of Yugoslavia. However, these social strata turned out to be too weak and were unable to identify bold critics of the existing system from among them. But on the other hand, not a single work that does not contain elements of denial of war and post-war reality enjoys mass success. It is perceived as a lie, bureaucracy, or at best as an empty flower (for example, the novel See Krakow “Croz Buru”). And since there are few works that are at all free from such shortcomings - and even those usually contain only attempts at light “self-criticism” - then in the advanced strata of bourgeois society and in the working class, translated literature enjoys greater success than the original, and on the other hand, some Croatian revolutionary writers who are close in spirit to the proletarian movement are successful (M. Krlezha (b. 1893), A. Tsesarec (b. 1896), etc.). In S. l. itself. We still see glimpses of revolutionary self-awareness in the works of some writers (D. Vasic, M. Bogdanovich, J. Popovic, B. Cosic). It should be noted that the Serbian bourgeoisie has a tradition of rewarding famous writers with sinecures and thus tying them to their interests, which also largely explains the official tone of many modern Serbian writers. Of the more or less well-known modern bourgeois Serbian writers, mention should be made of: M. Nastasievich, Zivadinovich, G. Bozovic, B. Efsic, the Nikolajevic brothers, V. Jankovic, etc., and the best modern playwright Joseph Kulundzic. Advanced petty-bourgeois criticism is represented by M. Bogdanovich and V. Gligoric. The works of Soviet writers enjoy great success. But since their publication is almost impossible due to censorship conditions, they are read either in the Russian original or in German and other translations. Quite a lot is translated from Western European languages. Leading publishers are Nolit (New Literature), Cosmos (a good edition of Marx's Capital) and Serene Highness.

The Serbian writers who emerged after the war sometimes surpass the older writers in the formal perfection of their works, but none acquired great fame or influence.

In the first years after the war, the years of the cult of formalism, the main trend in bourgeois socialist literature. there was expressionism (M. Crnyanski, S. Milicic, T. Manajovich, G. Petrovic, Aleksic, Topin, Vinaver, Dedinac). Empty and meaningless poetry of both this and other trends (“Zenitism” by Mitsich, etc.) often sought to declare their sympathy October revolution and the revolutionary proletariat, but already the era of partial stabilization of capitalism and especially the crisis and establishment of the military-fascist dictatorship in Yugoslavia brought a significant part of the writers of these trends into the ranks of fascism. However, a number of representatives from other groups, also formalist, in particular from the emerging last years groups of surrealists (M. Ristic, K. Popovic, G. Jovanovic, etc.) strive to join the labor movement.

A characteristic phenomenon for post-war S. l. (and the related Croatian) was the appearance, starting in 1919, of a number of magazines with a more or less clearly expressed Marxist ideology, which had great distribution and influence, but all of them were sooner or later banned (“Struggle”, “New Literature”, “ Knizhevna Republic", "Stozher", "Danas", etc.).

List literature

Šafárik P. J., Geschichte des serbischen Schrifttums, Prag, 1865

Murko M., Geschichte d. ält. Südslavischen Literatur, Lpz., 1908

Skerlich I., Srpska kizhevnost in the 18th century, Beograd, 1909 (late edition 1923)

His, History of new srpske kizhevnost, Beograd, 1914 (later ed., 1921)

Prohaska D., Pregled from the time of the Hrvatsko-Srpske kizhevnost, Zagreb, 1921

Stanoyevich M. S., Early Jugoslav literature, 1000—1800, N. Y., 1922

Seifert J. L., Literaturgeschichte der Čechoslowaken Südslaven u. Bulgaren, Kempden-München, 1923

Gesemann G., Die serbo-kroatische Literatur, Wildpark - Postdam, 1930.

In the 18th century The Serbian people continue to live in conditions of territorial and political division. Most of The Serbs remained under the rule of the Ottoman conquerors.

Serbs who fled from enemies and resettled at the end of the 17th century. the lands north of the Danube were under the jurisdiction of the Habsburg Monarchy. This region, which later received the name Vojvodina, became in the 18th century. center for the development of Serbian culture and literature.

The main direction of development of Serbian literature of the 18th century. connected with her overcoming the syncretistic state and her inclusion in the pan-European literary process. The coexistence of the new with the old represents the specifics of the development of Serbian literature in the 18th century.

Monasteries remained the main centers of Serbian literature in the first half of the century. The centuries-old handwritten tradition continues medieval literature, in the development of which a new aspect is revealed, associated with the people’s resistance to the assimilation tendencies of the enslavers and the awakening of national self-awareness.

Among the last significant representatives of the manuscript tradition were the monastic scribes and writers Cyprian and Erotei Rachane. Erotea’s “Journey to the City of Jerusalem” (1727) continued the genre of walking, known in the literature of the Orthodox Slavs since the 12th century. and contributed to the formation of important for the Serbian prose XVIII V. genres of travel and memoirs.

The work of Gavrila Stefanovich Venclovich (c. 1680-1749?) dates back to the 30-40s. Here, the features of the literary development of the 18th century are clearly demonstrated: along with the rewriting of the book of hours, lives, psalms, and teachings, the writer is engaged in free translations and compilations (including sermons) Ukrainian writer L. Baranovich), in which baroque elements are noticeable.

Venclovich was the first to turn to the folk language and, depending on the genre of the work, used the book language, the basis of which was Church Slavonic.

The development of new trends in literature was facilitated by the penetration of educational and rationalist ideas into the Serbian environment.

The peculiarity of their perception here was of a utilitarian-practical nature, that is, introducing compatriots to knowledge, expanding their cultural and social horizons, as necessary conditions for activating the liberation forces of the people and reviving the national culture.

School education played an important role in this, the formation of which is associated with activities in the first third of the 18th century. Russian and Ukrainian teachers sent from Russia at the request of the church authorities of Vojvodina. Thus, in 1726, M. Suvorov founded the first secular school among the Serbs in Sremski Karlovci, which was then headed by E. Kozachinsky, who came from Ukraine. The students of this school studied using Russian textbooks (including Smotritsky’s “Grammar” and Feofan Prokopovich’s primer).

E. Kozachinsky (1699-1755) stands at the origins of the Serbian theater. He owns the “Tragedocomedy” about the last Serbian ruler Uroš V, which Kozachinsky’s students staged in 1736.

Written on the model of Feofan Prokopovich's drama "Vladimir", Kozachinsky's work was one of the most expressive examples of the manifestation of baroque tendencies in Serbian literature.

Speaking later at different stages of literary development XVIII century, these trends contributed to the formation of a new genre and stylistic system.

Expanding ties with Russian and Ukrainian culture and literature of the 18th century. The study of Serbs in Russia, in particular at the Kiev-Mohyla Academy, as well as the resettlement of Serbs in the 18th century, also contributed to this. on southern lands Russia and Ukraine. Famous writers emerged from among the settlers: the author of historical works P. Julinac and S. Piščević, who wrote his memoirs in Russia.

This is the essay that remained for a long time in manuscript, received its rebirth in our time, after its publication in modern Serbo-Croatian (1963). It is recognized in Yugoslav literary criticism outstanding monument Serbian literature of the 18th century.

The further development of new phenomena in Serbian literature was facilitated by known progress in school education in the lands that were part of the Austrian Empire at the end of the 18th century. Contacts between Serbian and Serbian leaders are expanding. European culture. Printing houses are opening, the number of printed books is increasing, newspapers and magazines are being published.

A significant event in the cultural life of the Serbs was the first periodical— “Slavo-Serbian Store” (Venice, 1768), founded by the outstanding Serbian writer and cultural figure Zachary Orfelin (1726-1785). In the preface to the publication, guided by educational ideas, Orfelin called for the development of education and the study of history.

An important place in introducing the Serbian environment to the more developed European social thought and literature were occupied by translations (in particular, the novel “Belisarius” by Marmontel, 1776), as well as various kinds of compilations.

One of the earliest areas of the most noticeable manifestation of new trends in Serbian literature is associated with the historical writings of the second half of the XVIII V.

One after another appear " Brief introduction into the history of the origin of the Slavic-Serbian people" by P. Julinac (1765), two-volume "History of the life and glorious deeds great sovereign Emperor Peter the Great, autocrat of All Russia" Z. Orfelin (1772), "History of various Slavic peoples, especially the Bulgarians, Croats and Serbs, removed from the darkness of oblivion and brought into the light of history” by a student of the Kiev-Mohyla Academy J. Rajic (in 4 volumes, 1794-1795).

The idea of a Slavic community was one of the central ones in historical writings of that time. In assessing historical events, the authors attached decisive importance in the development of their people and humanity as a whole to common sense and enlightenment.

Turning to history, writers sought, on the one hand, to raise the patriotic spirit of the people, to identify and strengthen the connection between modernity and the heroic past, on the other hand, to attract the attention of the people of other countries to tragic fate Serbs.

The plots of many works (especially dramatic ones) of Serbian literature of the first era go back to Rajic’s “History”. half of the 19th century V. Orfelin’s “History of the Life” was one of the first detailed biographies of Peter I.

This essay, written by an ardent champion of Russian-Serbian ties, conveyed the magnitude of the personality of the outstanding statesman, his role in the transformation and enlightenment of Russia was highly appreciated (in 1774 it was republished in St. Petersburg.

Orfelin’s work was used by Pushkin in his work on “The History of Peter”). Artistically, the authors of historical works, inheriting the experience of old literature, including hagiographical literature, combined it with the later Baroque tradition.

One of the most difficult problems in the development of Serbian literature in the 18th century. (especially his other half) there was a language problem. The literature of this time was created in several languages. One of them was the so-called “Russian-Slavic”, i.e. the Russian edition of the Church Slavonic language, high and medium “calm” (depending on the genre of the work).

Associated with the strengthening of Serbian-Russian contacts and the growing interest in Russian books - the source of new ideas and literary and aesthetic concepts - the appeal to the Russian-Slavic was determined by a number of intranational circumstances in the life of the enslaved people, the decisive one among which was their resistance to the assimilationist policy of the Habsburgs. Under these conditions, the appeal to the Russian-Slavic encouraged the Serbs to realize their involvement in the Slavic world.

A lot has been written in Russian-Slavic significant works, primarily the historical works of Orfelin, I. Raich, S. Piščevich and others. Over time, this language, as researchers admit, changed, and by the end of the 18th century. The so-called “Slavic-Serbian” language was established - a peculiar mixture of Russian and Serbian elements.

At the same time, throughout the 18th century. Attempts are being made to introduce the folk language into literature, which authors often resorted to in their work in parallel with Russian-Slavic and Slavic-Serbian - depending on the genres of the works.

With the development of education and the press, the issue of a language accessible to a wide range of readers has become more acute. And although the battle for the establishment of a literary Serbian language on a vernacular basis will take place in the first half XIX century, the beginning of this process dates back to the end of the 18th century.

The most significant examples of poetry of the second half of the 18th century were written in a high civil-patriotic spirit. These include “The Sorrowful Cry of the Once Glorious Serbia” (in Russian-Slavic) and a version of this lyric-epic work in a language close to the folk one - “The Cry of Serbia” (1761) by Orfelin, his “Historical Song” (1765). Orfelin here addresses one of the central themes of Serbian literature and folklore - the theme of the Battle of Kosovo.

IN epic poem J. Rajic's “Fight of the Serpent with the Eagles” (1791) glorifies in allegorical form the struggle of Austria, Russia and the peoples enslaved by the Ottoman conquerors with Turkey in 1788-1789. A significant role in the development of poetry was played by foreign experience - both Slavic (including Russian, Ukrainian, Polish poetry of baroque and classicism) and Western (one of the conductors of which was Croatian poetry at that time).

This especially affected the system of versification (syllabic and then replaced by syllabic-tonic in the second half of the 18th century) and the development of genres, in particular lyric poetry. In the 18th century Folk epic poetry is developing intensively.

With the growth of the urban class, the so-called urban poetry develops (the first Serbian songbooks date back to the 70s and early 80s of the 18th century).

This poetry - mostly anonymous, marked by diverse influences, literary and folklore - was addressed to the everyday life of city residents, reflecting the feelings and experiences of the common man. Its main genres were love, humorous, and comic poems.

Urban poetry of the 18th century. turned out to be the direct forerunner and one of the sources of Serbian sentimentalist and romantic lyrics, as well as humorous and satirical poetry of the 19th century. (B. Radicevic, J. Zmaj).

Story world literature: in 9 volumes / Edited by I.S. Braginsky and others - M., 1983-1984.

Vuk Stefanović Karadžić (1787-1864) is perhaps the most remarkable personality of new Serbian not only literature, but even the history of his time, in terms of fortitude and originality. The main content throughout his long life scientific and literary activities can be reduced to the following main points: a) the decisive use in the book of pure vernacular, instead of the previously dominant Serbo-Slavic-Russian; b) the approval in the book of a new spelling (vukovica), based almost exclusively on the sound principle and distinguishing the new Serbian book both from the old Serbian and from the Russian and Bulgarian, where the historical and etymological principle still dominates; c) requirement from literature for knowledge folk life and songs and greater correspondence of its images with reality; d) the communication of Serbian artificial poetry with a tonic poetic meter suitable for it, close to the folk one or even identical with it, instead of the previously dominant metric and syllabic meters.

All of the indicated elements of the Vuk reforms had to withstand half a century of struggle before they received full recognition and then unlimited affirmation in literature and life. The most important of Karadzic’s works: a huge collection of folk songs (“Srpske narodne pjesme”), Serbian grammar (“Pismenica srbskoga jezika”), the famous Serbian dictionary (“riverman” with German and Latin translations of words - a whole treasury of not only the language, but also the folk life, its customs, legends, beliefs, etc.), several issues of the scientific and literary almanac “Danica” (Dennitsa), S. translation of the New Testament, “Narodne Srbsk proverb”, “Kovchezhich for history, jezik and obichaje Srba” - a treasury of Serbian folklore, “Primjvri Srbo-Slavonic jezik”. The activities of Karadzic were appreciated not only by the Serbs, but also by other Slavs; in Russia, for example, he was chosen as an honorary member of various scientific societies and institutions. Pan-European science also highly appreciated the remarkable work of this genius scientist; for example, the outstanding significance of his works was repeatedly recognized by Jacob Grimm. Thanks to Vuk’s activities, the very direction of literature among the Serbs changed: instead sentimental novels and the stories of Milovan Vidakovic (1780-1841) and the pseudo-classical works of the odopist Lušan Mušicki (1777-1837) and the epic Simeon Milutinović (1790-1847), whose “Serbian Woman” represents a curious, far from mediocre mixture of fresh folk-poetic principles with tasteless additions - a lively and vigorous romanticism appeared with Aleksey Branko Radicevic (1824-1853) at its head. The most important works of this little Serbian Pushkin belong to lyrical kind; his poems are much weaker; he did not write dramas at all. The best in the collection of his works (“Pesme”) are recognized as “Dyachki Rastanak” (student parting) and “The Path.” The first work is full of deep lyricism and rich in luxurious descriptions of nature; his language is remarkable: it is “clean as a tear,” in the words of Brankov’s friend, the famous Serbian philologist Yuri Danichic (1825-1882), who soulfully appreciated the social and literary significance of Radicevic’s poetry.

The glory of the first Serbian poet is shared with Brank Radicevich by his contemporary Peter II Petrovic Njegosh (1814-1851), the last Montenegrin “sovereign”, whose early death was almost the same loss for native literature as the even more untimely death of Brank. Njegoš's largest work is usually recognized as "Gorski vjenac", a poem depicting in dramatic form historical event the end of the 17th century - the beating by Montenegrins of the post-Turkish people, that is, their brethren who converted to Mohammedanism. This poem is full of wonderfully artistic and popular scenes depicting thoughts and feelings people's soul(Russian poetic translation was made by Mr. Lukyanovsky. The poetic heir of Branka Radicevic, Zmaj-Iovan Iovanovic (1833-1904), was one of the most outstanding Ser poets of his time. He is also predominantly a lyricist, in epic works he is only a good translator of the Magyar poets Aranya and Petofi, as well as Pushkin, Lermontov and others. From his lyrical collections, “Roses” (Dyulichi), “Withered Roses” (Dyulichi uveotsi), “Source (Eastern) Beads” (see “Dawn”, Kiev, 1893) deserve special attention. , “Slavic Muse”, St. Petersburg). His children's songs and humorous poems are also good. Yuri Yakshich and Lazar Kostic shared fame with Zmai Iovanovic. The Ilyich brothers are also known: the lyricist Voislav and the playwright Dragutin, as well as Kachyansky. His works are also significantly famous Montenegrin Prince Nicholas (drama “The Balkan Queen”, “Nova Koda”, etc.), who wrote the Montenegrin anthem “Onamo, Onamo” (“There, there!”, Russian translation by V. Benediktov, so widespread throughout Serbia). Among the playwrights, Trifkovich is also famous. Among the works of fiction, stand out novels and stories by G. Atanackovich, S. Lubisha, P. Adamov, M. Shabchanin, M. Milicevic, I. Veselinovic, S. Matavul and especially Lazar Lazarevich, almost all of whose stories (for example, “School Icon” ", "At the Well", "Werther", etc.) have also been translated into Russian.

XX century

On the threshold of the 19th-20th centuries, Serbian literature rises to the highest level. Despite the fact that Serbian literature during this period did not produce works that were included in world literature, nevertheless, a number of Serbian writers did not lag behind the same writers of “local” significance from other countries.

In the twentieth century, many young and talented writers appeared in Serbian literature. One of them is Ivo Andrić, who received the Nobel Prize on literature.

With Andrić, Danilo Kiš is considered as one of the most famous Serbian authors, along with writers such as Miloš Crnjanski, Meša Selimović, Borislav Pekić, Milorad Pavic, David Albahari, Miodrag Bulatović, Dobrica Cosic, Zoran Zivkovic, Jelena Dimitrijevic, Isidora Sekulic and a lot others. Milorad Pavic is perhaps the most famous Serbian author today, primarily for his “Khazar Dictionary” (Khazar Rechnik), which has been translated into 24 languages.

Serbian literature

A. Dobrovolsky

The first rudiments of S. l. date back to the end of the 12th and beginning of the 13th centuries. (the so-called “Gospel of Miroslav” and other monuments). This and almost all subsequent medieval S. l. is of an ecclesiastical nature. These are the gospels, missals, canons, lives of saints and apocrypha. Among these monuments - and there are about 2,000 of them - only the “Code of Tsar Dushan” (Dushan’s Law) of the 14th century is slightly more widely known. as an important historical monument. Among these monuments there are also a number of medieval novels that are completely unoriginal, for example. novel about Alexander the Great. During the transition from the Middle to the New Ages, the Serbian state perishes, the Serbian ruling class (“the rulers”) goes over to Mohammedanism and is denationalized. Literary work from the XV-XVIII centuries. cultivated only in monasteries and continues to serve exclusively the needs of the church. But on the other hand, folklore is developing enormously, especially epics glorifying the ancient Serbian kings (King Lazar, etc.), heroes (Kralevich Marko, Milos Obilic, etc.) and “haiduks”, the death of the Serbian state in the Battle of Kossovo, etc. Research has shown that most of these Serbian folk songs arose much later (200 years later) after the death of the Serbian state, when Turkish oppression began to unbearably intensify, so that the death of the national state began to be perceived as a loss of freedom in general, although serfdom existed among the Serbs even before the arrival of the Turks. The struggle of the Serbian peasants against the feudal oppression of the Turkish landowners and the Turkish authorities, glorified in the epic, has a religious and national overtones, but in it one can also find a number of moments where this struggle is clearly perceived as a class struggle (“Revolt against the Dahies” - “Buna na Dahie”, songs about the haiduk “Elder Vuyadina”). The artistic value of the Serbian epic is very high, although it was often exaggerated by comparison with the songs of the Iliad, etc. The collector of Serbian folklore was who lived in the first half of the 19th century. Vuk Stefanovic Karadzic (1787-1864).

S. l. in the proper sense arose only in the 18th century. among the Serbian bourgeoisie (main merchants), which developed under the conditions of emigration of Serbs who settled in southern Hungary. It grew stronger largely thanks to the patronage of the Austrian Emperor Joseph II. The earlier Dubrovnik literature should be attributed both in terms of language and in its historical destinies to one of the historical periods of Croatian literature. At first, just like the medieval Serbian language itself, it is more of a “writing” than a literature. The language of early Serbian writing is not Serbian folk, but the so-called. “Slavic Serbian” is a mixture of Russian, Serbian folk and Church Slavonic languages. This literature was under strong Russian influence, since Serbian priests, almost the only literate people at that time, studied in Russia or had Russian teachers. Peter I also sent the Serbs the first literature teacher M. T. Suvorov - these were the first literary beginnings of the pan-Slavist policy of Tsarist Russia towards the Serbs, a policy that in this case was specifically a maneuver against Austria and Turkey. From literary monuments of the 18th century. we can mention the “Slavic-Serbian Chronicle” by Count Georgiy Brankovich (1645-1711) and the works of Zakhary Stefanovich-Orfelin (1726-1785) - “The Life of Peter the Great”, etc. By the end of the 18th century. (1791) the first Serbian gas appeared in Vienna. "Serbian Novini". By the end of the 18th century. In connection with the development of the Serbian bourgeois class and the desire to create a nationally independent state, the desire to organize the Serbian literary language is awakening. from elements of Serbian folk speech. Of course, this language was still very little developed and reflected the ideology of the class that was its main organizer - the class of the Serbian bourgeoisie of the era of the disintegration of feudalism and the maturation of capitalist relations in the specific historical conditions of the struggle against Turkish feudal oppression. The first writer in the vernacular Serbian language, although quite contaminated with “Slavic-Serbianism,” was Dosifej Obradović (1742-1811), a pioneer of the educational ideas that dominated the West at that time among the Serbs. His main works: “Belly and Adventures” (1783) and “Fables” (1788). The era of Obradovic is commonly called the “era of rationalism.” She was a literary harbinger and companion of the Serbian struggle against Turkish feudal oppression at the beginning of the 19th century.

In the first half of the 19th century. in connection with some successes in this struggle, the partial liberation of Serbia from the Turks and further progress among the Serbian bourgeoisie within the capitalized Austria, fiction is separated from literature in general. A number of writers, poets and novelists appeared, writing partly in the folk, partly in the “Slavic-Serbian” language; but their works (for example, the poems of Lukijan Musicki (1777-1837) or the novels of Milovan Vidakovic (1780-1841)) have long been outdated and are of only historical interest. The exception is the Montenegrin bishop and head of state Petr Petrovich Njegosh, who lived at the same time (1813-1851), the author of the famous poem “Mountain Vijenac”, one of the best works of S. L., which describes the life and way of life of the Montenegrins. At the same time, the well-known reformer of the Serbian language and writing among Slavists, Vuk Stefanovic Karadzic, lived and worked. His largest literary undertaking was the collection of Serbian folk songs. The era of the revolution of 1848 and the elimination of the foundations of feudalism in Europe is the era when Karadzic's reform ideas in the field of language received universal recognition (around 1840-1860). Similar to similar phenomena at the dawn of capitalist development in Europe and in S. l. Poetry and prose are widely developed in the stylistic forms of romanticism, which responded to the demands of the craving for bourgeois degeneration of Serbian literary circles. The largest writers of this type were poets: Branko Radicevic (1824-1853) - a cheerful lyricist; Zmaj-Jovan Jovanovic (1833-1904) - the most educated writer of this time, very prolific, with a broad outlook, who was able to give wonderful songs for children, and political satire, and glorify ideals in the taste of a national-democratic worldview, and, most interesting of all, Paris Commune; Gyura Jakšić (1832-1878) - romantic, poet of great strength (but very weak in prose); partly Laza Kostic (1841-1910) - poet and playwright; Jovan Ilic, etc. Of the prose writers, not one has achieved such universal recognition as the first three of the poets. Stefan Mitrov Lubisha (1824-1878) and M. G. Milicevic (1831-1898) stand out somewhat, who provided interesting folkloristic and linguistic material in their works, as well as M. P. Shapchanin. K. Trifković (1848-1875) is well known as playwrights, and even more so is his predecessor Jovan Steria Popović, whose satire “Godolyubtsi”, exposing petty-bourgeois patriotism, is relevant to this day. In the era of romanticism in Siberian literature, in particular in poetry, the themes and artistic techniques of folklore are still strong, but Western influences also penetrate. However, the influence of Western literature is extremely weak compared to the folklore element. In the revolution of 1848, the Serbs, together with their writers, played a counter-revolutionary role, which also led to increased national isolation in literature. In the second half of the 19th century, on the contrary, due to the growth of the capitalist bourgeoisie and the development of broader ties with the foreign market, the general ideological guidelines in the Serbian literary process also changed. In the 70-80s. XIX century Bourgeois-realist literature is widely developing, which no longer fences itself off from the “rotten West”, but joins it and learns from it. Serbia, which by this time had become a politically independent country, attracted the cultural forces of those parts of the Serbian people who lived in Austria-Hungary. If earlier, in the 18th and early 19th centuries. center S. l. was in a foreign land, in Vienna and Budapest, and in the middle of the 19th century. - to the mountains Novi Sad, in southern Hungary (“Serbian Athens”), now Serbia proper and in particular Belgrade are increasingly becoming such a center. Nevertheless, general cultural development and in particular the development of S. l. in Austria-Hungary it is not weakening, but strengthening. Here there is a closer rapprochement between the Serbs and Croats, but still the merger of S. l. does not happen with Croatian.

The most typical writers for this era are the excellent stylist, short story writer “Serbian Turgenev” Laza Lazarevich (1851-1890), Milovan Glisic (1847-1908), the first realistic writer of everyday life of the Serbian village, a good translator from Russian (“War and Peace”), Sima Matavul (1852-1908), writer of everyday life of all bourgeois social classes on the territory of modern Yugoslavia, humorist-realist Stevan Sremac (1855-1906), poet Vojislav Ilyich (1862-1894), with whom modern Serbian poetry begins. This period also marks the beginning of the literary activity of the popular humorist and playwright Branislav Nušić (b. 1864) and subsequently the major poet Aleksi Šantić (1868-1924), who had a great influence on Serbian nationalist youth until 1914. Along with the strengthening of the influence of Western literature (French and etc.) in this era, the considerable influence of Russian literature was also noticeable, since a significant part of the Serbian intelligentsia also studied in Russia. At this time, many translations of Russian classics were made: Gogol, Pushkin, Lermontov, Turgenev, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, etc. In the era of transition to realism, the activity of Svetozar Markovich (1846-1875), a student and follower of Chernyshevsky and Russian populists, developed, which laid the foundation for the interest towards socialism in Serbia and the Balkans. He did little actual literature, writing only two articles on the topic of poetry and realism, but they had a great influence and contributed to the establishment of literature in S.L. realism.

On the threshold of the 20th century and in the 20th century. bourgeois S. l. rises to the highest level. Despite the fact that S. l. and during this period did not produce works that were included in world literature, nevertheless, a number of Serbian writers did not lag behind the same writers of “local” significance from other countries, which was greatly facilitated by the establishment of a constitutional democratic regime in Serbia in 1903, which gave even more wide scope for the development of capitalism in Serbia. In 1901, the literary magazine “Srpski Kizhevni Glasnik” and a number of others appeared. Literary criticism developed (Bogdan Popović, (b. 1863) - Jovan Skerlić (1877-1914)). The leading type of literature at this time, as in the 19th century, was poetry. The most prominent representatives of Serbian poetry at this time were Jovan Ducic (b. 1871), who was brought up under the strong influence of French bourgeois literature, Milon Rakic, one of the best masters of Serbian poetry, Aleksa Šantić, the bard of Serbian nationalism, Stevan Lukovic, the “decadents” S. Pandurovich and Vl. Petkovic-Dis (1880-1917), M. Koralia (b. 1886), etc. Bourgeois S. L., reflecting the corresponding processes in the social and political development of Serbian bourgeois society, identifies a number of ideologists of the petty bourgeoisie, the poor peasantry, who raise their voices against certain aspects of the bourgeois system. So, for example Among the prose writers, one should mention Petr Kočić (1877-1916) - the ideologist of the nationally and socially enslaved Serbian Bosnian peasantry (his satire “The Trial of the Badger” is remarkable), I. Ciniko - the whistleblower of the kulaks (the novel “Spiders”), Rad. Domanovich (1873-1908) - author of the satire “Marko Kralevich for the second time among the Serbs”, Bor. Stankovic - a writer of everyday life of collapsing patriarchal social relations in the Serbian southern province, Milutin Uskokovic - the first everyday writer of urban life in Serbia. At the same time, there were also recognized poetesses and writers, such as Donica Markovic (b. 1879), Isidora Sekulic (b. 1877). In dramaturgy, comedian Br. Nusic (b. 1864). It should be noted that the proletariat, which had just begun to develop in Serbia, managed at that time to nominate the talented but early deceased poet Kosta Abrashevich (1879-1898).

The era of wars for Serbia that began in 1912 (two Balkan and a world war), the realization as a result of these wars of the “centuries-old dreams” of the Serbian people and its complete unification in the newly created State of Yugoslavia did not produce corresponding results in the literature. This is explained by the fact that the national liberation moment in these wars played a completely secondary role, as was noted at one time by Lenin. The freedom-loving national dreams that inspired Serbian poets and writers were crushed by the imperialist claims of the Great Serbian bourgeoisie. The unsightly reality of the war, which took almost a quarter of the entire Serbian people to the grave, and the state and social order established as a result of it led to great disappointment among petty-bourgeois writers and ideologists of that part of the bourgeoisie that was, to one degree or another, bypassed in the process of development of imperialist politics Yugoslavia. However, these social strata turned out to be too weak and were unable to identify bold critics of the existing system from among them. But on the other hand, not a single work that does not contain elements of denial of war and post-war reality enjoys mass success. It is perceived as a lie, bureaucracy, or at best as an empty flower (for example, the novel See Krakow “Croz Buru”). And since there are few works that are at all free from such shortcomings - and even those usually contain only attempts at light “self-criticism” - translated literature enjoys greater success in the advanced strata of bourgeois society and in the working class than the original, and on the other hand, some Croatian revolutionary writers who are close in spirit to the proletarian movement are successful (M. Krlezha (b. 1893), A. Tsesarec (b. 1896), etc.). In S. l. itself. We still see glimpses of revolutionary self-awareness in the works of some writers (D. Vasic, M. Bogdanovich, J. Popovic, B. Cosic). It should be noted that the Serbian bourgeoisie has a tradition of rewarding famous writers with sinecures and thus tying them to their interests, which also largely explains the official tone of many modern Serbian writers. Of the more or less well-known modern bourgeois Serbian writers, mention should be made of: M. Nastasievich, Zivadinovich, G. Bozovic, B. Efsic, the Nikolajevic brothers, V. Jankovic, etc., and the best modern playwright Joseph Kulundzic. Advanced petty-bourgeois criticism is represented by M. Bogdanovich and V. Gligoric. The works of Soviet writers enjoy great success. But since their publication is almost impossible due to censorship conditions, they are read either in the Russian original or in German and other translations. Quite a lot is translated from Western European languages. Leading publishers are Nolit (New Literature), Cosmos (a good edition of Marx's Capital) and Serene Highness.

The Serbian writers who emerged after the war sometimes surpass the older writers in the formal perfection of their works, but none acquired great fame or influence.

In the first years after the war, the years of the cult of formalism, the main trend in bourgeois socialist literature. there was expressionism (M. Crnyanski, S. Milicic, T. Manajovich, G. Petrovic, Aleksic, Topin, Vinaver, Dedinac). Empty and meaningless poetry of both this and other trends (“zenitism” of Micić, etc.) often sought to declare their sympathy for the October Revolution and the revolutionary proletariat, but already the era of partial stabilization of capitalism and especially the crisis and establishment of the military-fascist dictatorship in Yugoslavia led a significant part of the writers of these trends joined the ranks of fascism. However, a number of representatives from other groups, also formalist, in particular from the group of surrealists that has emerged in recent years (M. Ristic, K. Popovic, G. Jovanovic, etc.) strive to join the labor movement.

Listliterature

Šafárik P. J., Geschichte des serbischen Schrifttums, Prag, 1865

Murko M., Geschichte d. ält. Südslavischen Literatur, Lpz., 1908

Skerlich I., Srpska kizhevnost in the 18th century, Beograd, 1909 (late edition 1923)

His, History of new srpske kizhevnost, Beograd, 1914 (later ed., 1921)

Prohaska D., Pregled from the time of the Hrvatsko-Srpske kizhevnost, Zagreb, 1921

Stanoyevich M. S., Early Jugoslav literature, 1000-1800, N. Y., 1922

Seifert J. L., Literaturgeschichte der Čechoslowaken Südslaven u. Bulgaren, Kempden-München, 1923

Gesemann G., Die serbo-kroatische Literatur, Wildpark - Postdam, 1930.

To prepare this work, materials from the site http://feb-web.ru/ were used

Serbian literature A. Dobrovolsky The first beginnings of S. l. date back to the end of the 12th and beginning of the 13th centuries. (the so-called “Gospel of Miroslav” and other monuments). This and p

More works

A. Dobrovolsky

S. l. in the proper sense arose only in the 18th century. among the Serbian bourgeoisie (main merchants), which developed under the conditions of emigration of Serbs who settled in southern Hungary. It grew stronger largely thanks to the patronage of the Austrian Emperor Joseph II. The earlier Dubrovnik literature should be attributed both in terms of language and in its historical destinies to one of the historical periods of Croatian literature. At first, just like the medieval Serbian language itself, it is more of a “writing” than a literature. The language of early Serbian writing is not Serbian folk, but the so-called. “Slavic Serbian” is a mixture of Russian, Serbian folk and Church Slavonic languages. This literature was under strong Russian influence, since Serbian priests, almost the only literate people at that time, studied in Russia or had Russian teachers. Peter I also sent the Serbs the first literature teacher M. T. Suvorov - these were the first literary beginnings of the pan-Slavist policy of Tsarist Russia towards the Serbs, a policy that in this case was specifically a maneuver against Austria and Turkey. From literary monuments of the 18th century. we can mention the “Slavic-Serbian Chronicle” by Count Georgiy Brankovich (1645-1711) and the works of Zakhary Stefanovich-Orfelin (1726-1785) - “The Life of Peter the Great”, etc. By the end of the 18th century. (1791) the first Serbian gas appeared in Vienna. "Serbian Novini". By the end of the 18th century. In connection with the development of the Serbian bourgeois class and the desire to create a nationally independent state, the desire to organize the Serbian literary language is awakening. from elements of Serbian folk speech. Of course, this language was still very little developed and reflected the ideology of the class that was its main organizer - the class of the Serbian bourgeoisie of the era of the disintegration of feudalism and the maturation of capitalist relations in the specific historical conditions of the struggle against Turkish feudal oppression. The first writer in the vernacular Serbian language, although quite contaminated with “Slavic-Serbianism,” was Dosifej Obradović (1742-1811), a pioneer of the educational ideas that dominated the West at that time among the Serbs. His main works: “Belly and Adventures” (1783) and “Fables” (1788). The era of Obradovic is commonly called the “era of rationalism.” She was a literary harbinger and companion of the Serbian struggle against Turkish feudal oppression at the beginning of the 19th century.

In the first half of the 19th century. in connection with some successes in this struggle, the partial liberation of Serbia from the Turks and further progress among the Serbian bourgeoisie within the capitalized Austria, fiction is separated from literature in general. A number of writers, poets and novelists appeared, writing partly in the folk, partly in the “Slavic-Serbian” language; but their works (for example, the poems of Lukijan Musicki (1777-1837) or the novels of Milovan Vidakovic (1780-1841)) have long been outdated and are of only historical interest. The exception is the Montenegrin bishop and head of state Petr Petrovich Njegosh, who lived at the same time (1813-1851), the author of the famous poem “Mountain Vijenac”, one of the best works of S. L., which describes the life and way of life of the Montenegrins. At the same time, the well-known reformer of the Serbian language and writing among Slavists, Vuk Stefanovic Karadzic, lived and worked. His largest literary undertaking was the collection of Serbian folk songs. The era of the revolution of 1848 and the elimination of the foundations of feudalism in Europe is the era when Karadzic's reform ideas in the field of language received universal recognition (around 1840-1860). Similar to similar phenomena at the dawn of capitalist development in Europe and in S. l. Poetry and prose are widely developed in the stylistic forms of romanticism, which responded to the demands of the craving for bourgeois degeneration of Serbian literary circles. The largest writers of this type were poets: Branko Radicevic (1824-1853) - a cheerful lyricist; Zmaj-Jovan Jovanovic (1833-1904) - the most educated writer of this time, very prolific, with a broad outlook, who was able to give wonderful songs for children, and political satire, and glorify ideals in the taste of a national-democratic worldview, and, most interesting of all, Paris Commune; Gyura Jakšić (1832-1878) - romantic, poet of great strength (but very weak in prose); partly Laza Kostic (1841-1910) - poet and playwright; Jovan Ilic, etc. Of the prose writers, not one has achieved such universal recognition as the first three of the poets. Stefan Mitrov Lubisha (1824-1878) and M. G. Milicevic (1831-1898) stand out somewhat, who provided interesting folkloristic and linguistic material in their works, as well as M. P. Shapchanin. K. Trifković (1848-1875) is well known as playwrights, and even more so is his predecessor Jovan Steria Popović, whose satire “Godolyubtsi”, exposing petty-bourgeois patriotism, is relevant to this day. In the era of romanticism in Siberian literature, in particular in poetry, the themes and artistic techniques of folklore are still strong, but Western influences also penetrate. However, the influence of Western literature is extremely weak compared to the folklore element. In the revolution of 1848, the Serbs, together with their writers, played a counter-revolutionary role, which also led to increased national isolation in literature. In the second half of the 19th century, on the contrary, due to the growth of the capitalist bourgeoisie and the development of broader ties with the foreign market, the general ideological guidelines in the Serbian literary process also changed. In the 70-80s. XIX century Bourgeois-realist literature is widely developing, which no longer fences itself off from the “rotten West”, but joins it and learns from it. Serbia, which by this time had become a politically independent country, attracted the cultural forces of those parts of the Serbian people who lived in Austria-Hungary. If earlier, in the 18th and early 19th centuries. center S. l. was in a foreign land, in Vienna and Budapest, and in the middle of the 19th century. - to the mountains Novi Sad, in southern Hungary (“Serbian Athens”), now Serbia proper and in particular Belgrade are increasingly becoming such a center. Nevertheless, general cultural development and in particular the development of S. l. in Austria-Hungary it is not weakening, but strengthening. Here there is a closer rapprochement between the Serbs and Croats, but still the merger of S. l. does not happen with Croatian.

The most typical writers for this era are the excellent stylist, short story writer “Serbian Turgenev” Laza Lazarevich (1851-1890), Milovan Glisic (1847-1908), the first realistic writer of everyday life of the Serbian village, a good translator from Russian (“War and Peace”), Sima Matavul (1852-1908), writer of everyday life of all bourgeois social classes on the territory of modern Yugoslavia, humorist-realist Stevan Sremac (1855-1906), poet Vojislav Ilyich (1862-1894), with whom modern Serbian poetry begins. This period also marks the beginning of the literary activity of the popular humorist and playwright Branislav Nušić (b. 1864) and subsequently the major poet Aleksi Šantić (1868-1924), who had a great influence on Serbian nationalist youth until 1914. Along with the strengthening of the influence of Western literature (French and etc.) in this era, the considerable influence of Russian literature was also noticeable, since a significant part of the Serbian intelligentsia also studied in Russia. At this time, many translations of Russian classics were made: Gogol, Pushkin, Lermontov, Turgenev, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, etc. In the era of transition to realism, the activity of Svetozar Markovich (1846-1875), a student and follower of Chernyshevsky and Russian populists, developed, which laid the foundation for the interest towards socialism in Serbia and the Balkans. He did little actual literature, writing only two articles on the topic of poetry and realism, but they had a great influence and contributed to the establishment of literature in S.L. realism.