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Dunja Radojević, MA
In­sti­tu­te for Bal­kan Stu­di­es SASA, Belgrade, Republic of Serbia

 

A CONTRIBUTION TO THE STUDY OF SERBIAN-RUSSIAN CULTURAL RELATIONS: JOVAN CVIJIĆ AND THE RUSSIAN INTELLIGENTSIA AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 20TH CENTURY

Vol. XLIV, 1/2026, pp. 1–14
https://doi.org/10.29362/ist20veka.2026.1.rad.1-14

 

ABSTRACT/RESUME:

Rese­arch con­duc­ted to da­te on sci­en­ti­fic con­tri­bu­ti­on of Ser­bi­an intellec­tu­als and the­ir ro­le in na­ti­o­nal and po­li­ti­cal events in­di­ca­tes that Jo­van Cvi­jić was among the few scho­lars who­se mul­ti­fa­ce­ted ac­ti­vi­ti­es ha­ve be­en stu­di­ed in depth. Among ot­her aspects, the con­nec­ti­ons he ma­in­ta­ined with numerous Eu­ro­pe­an sci­en­tists, as well as with the­ir sci­en­ti­fic in­sti­tu­tes, aca­de­mi­es of sci­en­ces, and uni­ver­si­ti­es are well known. Neverthe­less, relati­vely lit­tle is known abo­ut the con­tacts and co­o­pe­ra­ti­on he esta­blis­hed with Rus­si­an scientists and ar­tists, a fact that stands in con­trast to the im­por­tan­ce of the Rus­si­an Em­pi­re for Ser­bia and the Serbian pe­o­ple in the la­te 19th and early 20th cen­tury. This can be par­ti­ally expla­i­ned by the scar­city of hi­sto­ri­cal so­ur­ces and the in­suf­fi­ci­ent at­ten­ti­on they ha­ve re­ce­i­ved. Altho­ugh frag­men­tary, the­se so­ur­ces, on the one hand, te­stify to the con­ti­nu­ity of Cvi­jićʼs ti­es with the Rus­si­an sci­en­ce and, the ot­her, re­ve­al his at­ti­tu­des towards the Rus­si­an pe­o­ple, Rus­sia as an em­pi­re and its hi­sto­ri­cal ro­le, par­ti­cu­lar ar­tists, Ort­ho­doxy, and Slo­ve­ne iden­tity.

In­to­le­rant of Rus­si­an im­pe­ri­al de­spo­tism, Jo­van Cvi­jić ne­vert­he­less had a de­ep convicti­on in the im­por­tan­ce of Rus­sia in de­fen­ding the Slavs, pri­ma­rily the Ort­ho­dox population, in the fa­ce of Ger­many to do­mi­na­te the Bal­kans and the East. For this re­a­son, altho­ugh po­li­ti­cally unaf­fi­li­a­ted, he sup­por­ted a po­licy of co­o­pe­ra­ti­on with Rus­sia and to­ok part in ini­ti­a­ti­ves ai­med to win­ning the sup­port of Rus­si­an sci­en­tists and the Rus­si­an pu­blic for the Ser­bi­an na­ti­o­nal go­als. At the sa­me ti­me, he held the Rus­si­an pe­o­ple in high este­em, firmly be­li­e­ving in the­ir va­lu­es, par­ti­cu­larly the­ir spi­ri­tu­a­lity, re­li­gi­o­us de­vo­ti­on, no­bi­lity, and ca­pacity for self-sa­cri­fi­ce in pur­su­it of uni­ver­sal ide­als. In that re­spect, he sha­red views expres­sed by the Rus­si­an no­ve­list Maxim Gorky, whom he met in per­son in Ca­pri in 1910. Alt­ho­ugh the no­te Cvi­jić com­po­sed con­cer­ning the­ir con­ver­sa­ti­on re­ma­i­ned un­fi­nis­hed, it was ric­her in con­tent than any of his ot­her no­tes on pro­mi­nent re­pre­sen­ta­ti­ves of Rus­si­an li­te­ra­tu­re and art. Consequently, to­get­her with ot­her ava­i­la­ble so­ur­ces, it pro­vi­des a strong im­pe­tus for furt­her re­se­arch, espe­ci­ally gi­ven that Jo­van Cvi­jić was among the ra­re Ser­bi­an scho­lars who­se views, over se­ve­ral de­ca­des, exer­ted a sig­ni­fi­cant in­flu­en­ce on pu­blic opi­ni­on.

 

KEYWORDS: King­dom of Ser­bia, Rus­sia, Jo­van Cvi­jić, Maxim Gorky, Slav­dom, the in­tel­li­gent­sia, wri­ters, ar­tists

 

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