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Although largely unknown, Serbian literature definitely has a lot to offer to an inquiring mind, eager to get some insights into the country above and beyond the scarce, semi-digested data usually offered by the media or guidebooks. Since we believe that preparation for the trip should start in a library (or, nowadays, on the Internet), we have selected some Serbian literary pieces that we found exceptional and very much worth reading.
There are many ways to learn something about a country before hitting the road. Literature is surely one of the most interesting and efficient ways of getting acquainted with the local culture, history, mentality, traditions, customs etc. Even if your literary appetite is easily satisfied and doesn't require any comperhensive ventures into the world of literature, you may still want to read a book or two as a mean of getting more thorough insight into your planned travel destination, in this case - Serbia.
The books mentioned in this chapter are the ones we believe to be at the same time interesting and informative, as well as good pieces of literature. This list should be seen as a starting point for broader exploration of Serbian literature. |
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Milos Crnjanski
( 3 Articles )
Milos Crnjanski (1893-1977) was a Serbian poet, writer and diplomat. His style is usually considered to be expressionism and romanticism. He believed that everything in this world - beings, things, actions - is interconnected with each other - a doctrine which he called "Sumatraism", and explained in his poem "Sumatra" and essay "Explanation of Sumatra".
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Mesa Selimovic
( 1 Article )
Mesa Selimovic (1910-1982) was a Serbian writer from Bosnia and Herzegovina, who mostly wrote about Ottoman times in the Balkans. One of his most famous novels is "Death and the Dervish". The story takes place in the 18th century Bosnia. It is about a dervish of the Mevlevi order who, following the arrest of his brother, decides to raise his voice against the oppresive regime of which he himself eventually becomes a part. All this leads him to question his previous dogmatic certainties and seek the truth through a series of painful introspections.
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Ivo Andric
( 1 Article )
Ivo Andric (1892-1975) was a Yugoslav writer from Bosnia, the only Yugoslav citizen ever to have received the Nobel Prize. His most famous book is "Bridge on the Drina", and is actually the history of Višegrad, a town in then Ottoman empire and in today's Bosnia, told as a history of a bridge over the Drina, the riverh separating Bosnia and Serbia. The story spans four centuries and, although centered around the bridge (still standing, erected in the late 16th century by the Ottoman Grand Vizier of Serbian origin, known as Sokolu Mehmed Pasa or Mehmed Paša Sokolović) is actually a story about the town and its mixed population.
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Vasko Popa
( 3 Articles )
Vasko Popa was a 20th century Serbian modernist poet, famous for developing a unique poetic language in which symbolist poetry is merged with the characteristic vocabulary of oral folk traditions. His style is concise and succinct, often eliptical, and saturated with humour.
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Momcilo Nastasijevic
( 1 Article )
Momcilo Nastasijevic (1894-1938) was a Serbian poet, writer and thinker. Due to his hermetic style and specific language, he never gained much popularity. In his poetry he used an incredibly wide spectrum of words, trying to find what he called "Maternal Melody", the internal, intrinsic melody of Serbian language. He wrote about problems of human existence, life, death, creation, destruction, love etc. He believed the poetry to be "just midway between music and language".
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Branko Miljkovic
( 1 Article )
Branko Miljkovic (1934-1961) was a Serbian poet and translator. He died prematurely at a very young age (27), found hanging from a tree in Zagreb, today's Croatia. Although it has never been proven, he is most likely to have commited a suicide. His poetic style is generally considered to be strongly influenced by French Symbolism.
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Serbian literature
