Jovan Skerlić: The founder of literary critique as an analytic genre in journalism

Abstract

Jovan Skerlić was the first modern Serbian critic, whose influence is reaching to this day. He was one of the strongest pillars of Serbian culture, previously built by Vuk Karadžic, Dositej Obradović, Svetozar Marković. He was not only the most prominent literary critic, he was also one of the most prominent ideologues of the epoch and significantly contributed to the formation of a national Serbian being. Theorists of culture consider his work as valuable as the anthropological theory of Jovan Cvijić or the linguistic study of Aleksandar Belić. It is obvious that Skerlić's work exceeded his literary engagement, although he was first among all to be remembered. Essentially, his work was a kind of cultural mission, whose crown was the uniting of South Slavs. As a critic, he encompassed two centuries of Serbian literature, expressing its developmental path. The Slovenian course of talent was followed by him and throughout his life he was trained. It was only in the fifties of the twentieth century that his real contribution and creativity were apreciated, which was diverse, but in which everything was connected. Skerlić is the author of unprecedented "History of new Serbian literature". He did not have successors or followers, because the power of his gift was so great that he directed other critics to other areas. Jovan Skerlić was truly the creator of a clear, accurate, logically convincing writing, called "the Belgrade school". Writing, advocating for the freedom of spirit and art, being an erudite, writing an Impressionist criticism model, was open to the influence of foreign writers (especially French). Serbia has never had such educated, influential and influential critics before, nor it has them now. This paper shows how Jovan Skerlić's way of constructing his style of critique made a unity between expressions, ethics and esthetics. Therefore, his journalistic genre of literary critique made a new elite literary genre of critique possible.

U ovom radu se izučava delo Jovana Skerlića kao prvog modernog srpskog književnog kritičara, koji je svojim delovanjem uticao na savremenike. U radu ćemo se baviti specifičnim kritičarskim stilom kojim je Skerlić pisao, kompozicijom njegovih kritika, njegovim odnosom prema idealnoj kritici. Glavna pretpostavka rada je da je Jovan Skerlić kao kritičar uspeo da ujedini stilsko, etičko i estetsko. Skerlićevo obrazovanje i odlično poznavanje književnih prilika pomoglo je formiranju njegovog kritičarskog modela: pisao je beletrističko-analitički hibridni novinarski žanr, ali je od kritike, kao novinarskog, uspeo da napravi elitni književni žanr. Samog Skerlića posmatraćemo i očima savremenika, literata i istoričara, ali i kao osobu sa snažnom književnokritičarskom misijom.