Author(s): Srećko Lipovčan / Language(s): Croatian
Publication Year: 0
Among those writers who were not members of the Party of Right but rather supporters of Rightist ideas, the work of poets, essayists and publicists, A.G. Matoš was certainly among the first in that he wrote the most about Rightist ideas – and especially A. Starčević – and that he wrote informatively, lucidly, and critically, revealing on this issue, one of his favourite ‘themes,’ his determinately free, independent spirit. A. G. Matoš always wrote about A. Starčević respectfully, but here and there with a casual turn of phrase that was all-encompassing, he described, interpreted, and judged the various levels (about Starčević, the man and his nature, about his qualities as a leader, about his fallacies, about the inadequate interpretations of his learning, about his importance as an ideologue, about the consequences of his obstinate assertion that he was “not concerned with practical politics,” etc.). If Matoš’ rather numerous fragments on Starčević published over the course of two decades were collected into one text, this would be the most widespread study of him that was ever written. Matoš’ starčevićiana, mentioned in passing, has rarely received systematic analysis, so it is presented in this article in its basic terms of reference, in the constancy of Matoš’ undertakings for freedom (the liberal idea of his but not our time!) as the universal denominator for general development of reality toward the speediest modernization of Croatian society possible. It is interesting to note that Pilar’s (incomplete) study of A. Starčević, begun after 1918 but conceived as a part of ageneral plan as one of the first theoreticians of our modernization – was in large part, in particular its criticism of Starčević’s political efforts, inspired by Matoš’ writings.
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