The Nonconformists: Culture, Politics, and Nationalism in a Serbian Intellectual Circle, 1944-1991Nick Miller argues in this provocative study that to comprehend Yugoslavia's collapse, we must examine the development and nature of Serbian nationalism, and the typical approaches will not suffice. Serbia's national movement of the 1980s and 1990s, Miller suggests, was not the product of an ancient, immutable, and aggressive Serbian national identity; nor was it an artificial creation of powerful political actors looking to capitalize on its mobilizing power. In examining the work of three influential Serbian intellectuals, Miller argues that cultural processes are too often ignored in favor of political ones; that Serbian intellectuals did work within a historical context, but that they were not slaves to the past; that Serbian history is not a continuous reiteration of static themes. His subjects are Dobrica Cosic (a novelist), Mica Popovic (a painter) and Borislav Mihajlovic Mihiz (a literary critic). These three men were part of a circle of friends who began the postwar with (mostly!) open minds about the promise of the new communist order and who wound up by 1974 as inveterate opponents of the regime and nationalists. Together, the work of these men indicates that nationalism was more than a tool for cynical and needy politicians, and less an ancient bequest than an unsurprising response to real conditions in Tito's Yugoslavia. Book jacket. |
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Contents
1 | |
Nonconformist Initiations | 39 |
Cosic Engagement and Disillusionment 19561966 | 83 |
Drama and Politics Mihiz in the Sixties | 119 |
The Suicide and Rebirth of the Painting Mica Popovic 19591974 | 149 |
Fragmented Serbia | 177 |
Cosic and Popovic Return to Serbia | 215 |
From Principle to Catharsis | 241 |
The Children of Cain | 285 |
The Limits of Revelation | 309 |
The Legend of Simina 9a in Serbias Modern History | 347 |
363 | |
Illustration Credits | 371 |
373 | |
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The Nonconformists: Culture, Politics, and Nationalism in a Serbian ... Nick Miller No preview available - 2013 |
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Albanian Aleksandar Aleksandar Rankovic argued artistic Banovic Strahinja Beckovic become believed Bogdan Borislav Mihajlovic Mihiz Central Committee Cetnik communism Covek critical Crnjanski Croatian Croatian Spring Croats death Djilas Djogo Djordje Djuric Dobrica Cosic Dusan engagement evil fact fate freedom friends Gligorijevic goal Goli Otok Gvozden historical ideological included informel Isakovic Ivan Katic Knjizevne novine Krleza League of Communists liberation literary literature Martinovic Memorandum Mica Popovic Mihailovic and Krestic Mihiz Milosevic Miroslav Krleza modern Montenegrin movement nationalist novel Novi Sad Novi Sad Agreement novine Belgrade Odgovor painter painting Partisan party Pavle Pavle Ivic Petar Plenum political Politika Popovic's Proposal question Rankovic razgovori republics revolution role Scenes Serbian culture Serbian intellectuals Serbian nation Serbian Writers Serbs Simina 9a siminovci Slovene social socialist realism society speech Stojkovic Strahinic Ban student themes tion Tito regime Titoism Trifunovic truth University Vojvodina vremenu Vukasin Yugoslav Yugoslavia Zogovic Zoran Music