ПЕЧАЛНИ ТРУДБЕНИК И SPIRITUS RECTOR: СУДБИНА ЗБИРКЕ ХРОНИКА МОЈЕ ВАРОШИ
PEČALNI TRUDBENIK AND SPIRITUS RECTOR: DESTINY OF THE COLLECTION HRONIKA MOJE VAROŠI

Summary/Abstract: The paper discusses and comments on Živko Milićević’s negative review of the manuscript Hronika moje varoši (Chronicle of my town) by Momčilo Nastasijević, sub¬mitted to the Serbian Literary Association in 1931. The review was submitted without a date so the year when it was written was determined later. It is kept in the Archive of the Serbian Literary Association. It is a testimony not only to a revolutionary time ripe with poetic differences, but also speaks a lot about the people involved, about literary squabbles and generally about the cultural circumstances in the undoubtedly vivid period between the two world wars. The history of this interesting case in our publishing is part of the history of our literature and our cultural history in general. The Chronicle of my town was first structured in an unusual way and then published in a roundabout way, later becoming part of our literary canon. The process started with a negative review and consequently a refusal of publication, which was followed by the author’s bitter reaction that went unnoticed. Then came a crushing text written by one of the greatest authorities of that time and present day as well, but it all ended with the manuscript being published posthumously. This was followed by reprints, numerous selections of authors and an¬thologies, two editions of collected works (one of them a critical edition) and introduction to the curricula of schools and universities. This process of canonization lasted for almost six decades since the moment discussed in this paper. Years and decades later literary and cultural public was the one that made a final verdict in the conflict described here. Although Nastasijević was always a kind of an exclusive author with a narrow audience, the Chronicle of my town became an unavoidable title of Serbian avant-garde prose and Serbian literature in general.

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