Liberalism and imperialism: Croce and D’Annunzio in Serbian culture 1903-1914

Abstract

This paper takes a comparative look at the missions and ideologies of the most influential periodicals in Serbian and Italian cultures in the years preceding the First World War, the Srpski književni glasnik (Serbian Literary Herald) and La Critica. It also describes the public roles and political ideas of the editor of La Critica, Benedetto Croce, and the editors of the Glasnik, Bogdan Popović, Pavle Popović and Jovan Skerlić. It looks at the interpretations of Croce’s political ideas put forward in the Glasnik, recognizing a closeness between the liberal literary and political renewal programmes of Benedetto Croce, on the one hand, and Bogdan Popović, Pavle Popović and Jovan Skerlić, on the other. Finally, it points to the Glasnik’s repulsion towards the imperialist ideas of Gabriele D’Annunzio, Croce’s main rival in the Italian culture of the period. But under the editorship of Jovan Skerlić, at the time when Serbia was subjected to Austria-Hungary’s pressure and war threat, the Glasnik published D’Annunzio’s short stories and advocated the ideals of activism, vitalism and heroism.