Ljubomir Nedić ( sr, Љубомир Недић; 25 April 1858 – 29 July 1902) was a
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...
n
philosopher and
literary critic.
Having received academic training in philosophy at the
University of Leipzig
Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...
, Nedić taught at the
Belgrade Higher School
The University of Belgrade ( sr, / ) is a public university in Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia.
Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it merged with the Kragujevac-b ...
beginning in 1885, after having defended his doctorate thesis on
Sir William Hamilton's logic. During the 1890s, Nedić left philosophy and began his career as a literary critic. His criticisms were controversial during his time and targeted many highly respected Serbian writers such as
Jovan Jovanović Zmaj
Jovan Jovanović Zmaj ( sr-cyr, Јован Јовановић Змаj, pronounced ; 24 November 1833 – 1 June 1904) was a Serbian poet.
Jovanović worked as a physician; he wrote in many poetry genres, including love, lyric, patriotic, poli ...
,
Laza Kostić
Lazar "Laza" Kostić ( sr-Cyrl, Лазар "Лаза" Костић; 12 February 1841 – 27 November 1910) was a Serbian poet, prose writer, lawyer, aesthetician, journalist, publicist, and politician who is considered to be one of the greatest ...
and
Milan Milićević
Milan Đakov Milićević (Serbian Cyrillic: Милан Ђаков Милићевић; June 4, 1831 – November 17, 1908) was a Serbian writer, biographer, publicist, ethnologist and one of the founders of the Association of Writers of Serbia ...
. Nedić advocated an interpretation of literary works with minimal attention to biographic and social circumstances in which they arose.
Despite his innovative and modern approach to Serbian literature, Nedić has been criticized for his lack of academic training in literary criticism, as well as his subjective and overly critical assessments of his political opponents, influenced by his staunch social conservative political views. His goal of clearing the path for a new generation of Serbian writers was carried out by
Bogdan Popović
Bogdan Popović (Serbian Cyrillic: Богдан Поповић; 20 December 1863 – 7 November 1944) was one of the most important literary critics and university professors in Serbia and later Yugoslavia and an academic. He was the brother of ...
soon after Nedić's death in 1902.
Early life and education
Ljubomir Nedić was born in
Belgrade on 25 April 1858. He finished his primary and secondary education in his hometown. As a young man, Nedić was interested in the natural sciences, translating several short works, as well as providing a translation of an account of the travels of
James Cook from German. He enrolled in medical school in Germany in 1878. He later abandoned medicine for physiology and psychology, and finally graduated in philosophy at
Leipzig University
Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December ...
in 1882.
Nedić defended his doctoral thesis on contemporary British logic in 1885 at Leipzig University, primarily focusing on the logic of
Sir William Hamilton. Having spent a year in London, he completed his doctorate titled ''Die Lehre von der Quantification des Prädikats in der neueren englischen Logik'' (The Doctrine Concerning the Quantification of the Predicate in Recent English Philosophy) under the mentorship of
Wilhelm Wundt.
Professorship
Soon after completing his doctorate, Nedić obtained a professorship at the
Belgrade Higher School
The University of Belgrade ( sr, / ) is a public university in Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia.
Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it merged with the Kragujevac-b ...
''
grande école
A ''grande école'' () is a specialised university that is separate from, but parallel and often connected to, the main framework of the French public university system. The grandes écoles offer teaching, research and professional training in s ...
'', with the support of Minister of Education Alimpije Vasiljević. Nedić was first offered the position of substitute in 1884, becoming a full professor in 1886.
He taught history of philosophy based on the writings of
George Henry Lewes
George Henry Lewes (; 18 April 1817 – 30 November 1878) was an English philosopher and critic of literature and theatre. He was also an amateur physiologist. American feminist Margaret Fuller called Lewes a "witty, French, flippant sort of m ...
,
Eugen Dühring
Eugen Karl Dühring (12 January 1833, Berlin21 September 1921, Nowawes in modern-day Potsdam-Babelsberg) was a German philosopher, positivist, economist, and socialist who was a strong critic of Marxism.
Life and works
Dühring was born in Be ...
and
Friedrich Ueberweg
Friedrich Ueberweg (; 22 January 1826 – 9 June 1871), was a German philosopher and historian of philosophy.
Biography
Friedrich Ueberweg was born in Leichlingen, Rhineland. His parents were Johann Gottlob Friedrich Ueberweg (19 August 1797 - ...
. Similarly to his predecessors
Milan Kujundžić Aberdar and Alimpije Vasiljević, his course on logic was based on
John Stuart Mill and
A.W. Benn. According to Slobodan Žunjić, Nedić was not purely an ardent supporter of Sir William Hamilton's formal logic, as opposed to John Stuart Mill's inductive logic. His teachings at the Belgrade Higher School reflect a very balanced approach to the subject. He outlined both interpretations in his courses, from which notes were published in the late 1880s by his students. Also, according to Žunjić, he did not fully commit to either position, but he did at times describe his understanding of logic as broader than Hamilton's formal and "purely extensional" perspective.
During the late 1880s, Nedić would go on to publish a few works of popular philosophy such as ''O hipnotizmu'' (On Hypnotism), ''O snu i snovima'' (On Sleep and Dreams) in 1888 and ''O sofizmima'' (On Sophisms) in 1889. Losing interest in teaching philosophy, in some part because of his progressing illness, Nedić ventured more deeply into literary criticism and politics. This led to his dismissal from his teaching position at the subject of the history of philosophy, where he was succeeded by Mihailo Šljivić in 1889. Šljivić would take up Nedić's course on logic in 1895, after which Nedić lost his tenure in 1899.
Literary criticism
In contrast to his contemporaries, the "natural criticism" of
Svetislav Vulović
Svetislav Vulović ( sr, Светислав Вуловић; 29 November 1847 – 3 May 1898) was a Serbian teacher, literary critic and literary historian.
Early life and education
Svetislav Vulović was born on 29 November 1847 in Ivanjica.
H ...
inspired by
Ludwig Börne
Karl Ludwig Börne (born "Loeb Baruch"; 6 May 1786 – 12 February 1837) was a German-Jewish political writer and satirist, who is considered part of the Young Germany movement.
Early life
Karl Ludwig Börne was born Loeb Baruch on 6 May 178 ...
and the
utilitarian
In ethical philosophy, utilitarianism is a family of normative ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for all affected individuals.
Although different varieties of utilitarianism admit different charac ...
and political criticism of the early socialist
Svetozar Marković
Svetozar Marković ( sr-Cyrl, Светозар Марковић, ; 9 September 1846 – 26 February 1875) was a Serbian political activist, literary critic and socialist philosopher. He developed an activistic anthropological philosophy wit ...
, Nedić advocated a style of criticism of a work "in itself", devoid of biographical and political circumstances that led to its writing, focusing instead on style and a psychological analysis of the work. His stern belief in objective
aesthetic norms, as well as his hard-line social and political conservatism, led to Nedić publishing a sharp critique of highly lauded Serbian writers, such as
Jovan Jovanović Zmaj
Jovan Jovanović Zmaj ( sr-cyr, Јован Јовановић Змаj, pronounced ; 24 November 1833 – 1 June 1904) was a Serbian poet.
Jovanović worked as a physician; he wrote in many poetry genres, including love, lyric, patriotic, poli ...
,
Laza Kostić
Lazar "Laza" Kostić ( sr-Cyrl, Лазар "Лаза" Костић; 12 February 1841 – 27 November 1910) was a Serbian poet, prose writer, lawyer, aesthetician, journalist, publicist, and politician who is considered to be one of the greatest ...
,
Ljubomir Nenadović and
Milan Milićević
Milan Đakov Milićević (Serbian Cyrillic: Милан Ђаков Милићевић; June 4, 1831 – November 17, 1908) was a Serbian writer, biographer, publicist, ethnologist and one of the founders of the Association of Writers of Serbia ...
. His criticism was very controversial during his time, when evaluating the relatively young Serbian literary community with anything but the highest praise was taboo. In their stead, Nedić highly valued the lyricism of
Vojislav Ilić. Initially, he praised
Đura Jakšić
Georgije "Đura" Jakšić ( sr-Cyrl, Георгије Ђура Јакшић; 27 July 1832 – 16 November 1878) was a Serbian poet, painter, writer, dramatist and bohemian.
Biography
Đura Jakšić was born as Georgije Jakšić in Srpska Crnja, ...
, later condemning him for his solidarity with Svetozar Marković's socialist movement. During this time, Nedić was a member of the conservative
Progressive Party Progressive Party may refer to:
Active parties
* Progressive Party, Brazil
* Progressive Party (Chile)
* Progressive Party of Working People, Cyprus
* Dominica Progressive Party
* Progressive Party (Iceland)
* Progressive Party (Sardinia), Ita ...
.
In the 1890s, two groups emerged in Serbian literary criticism: one led by Nedić, and the other by the critics gathered around the literary journal ''Delo''. Nedić served as editor of the periodical ''Srpski pregled'' (Serbian Review). The journal was politically conservative and was published during 1895. Beside his own journal, Nedić published several articles in the journals ''Red'' in 1894 and ''Zora'' from 1899 to 1901. In 1898, he translated the novel ''
The Vicar of Wakefield
''The Vicar of Wakefield'', subtitled ''A Tale, Supposed to be written by Himself'', is a novel by Anglo-Irish writer Oliver Goldsmith (1728–1774). It was written from 1761 to 1762 and published in 1766. It was one of the most popular and wid ...
'' into Serbian.
Nedić's largest works were his published books – ''Iz novije srpske lirike'' (A Selection from Recent Serbian Lyricism) in 1893, ''Noviji srpski pisci'' (Recent Serbian Writers) in 1901 and the posthumously published ''Kritičke studije I'' (Critical Studies Vol. 1) in 1910.
Jovan Skerlić
Jovan Skerlić (, ; 20 August 1877 – 15 May 1914) was a Serbian writer and literary critic.''Jovan Skerlić u srpskoj književnosti 1877–1977: Zbornik radova''. Posebna izdanja, Institut za knjizevnost i umetnost, Belgrade. He is seen as one ...
applauded Nedić as a brave, intelligent and unrelenting critic who worked to tear down established norms and strived for a Serbian literature up to par with its European contemporaries. He criticized him for his rigid social traditionalism and political conservatism, his lack of academic training, and his departures from his own aesthetic norms against writers who were his political adversaries. According to Skerlić, Nedić's criticism was, in the end, highly destructive and cynical, at the same time inaugurating a new and more modern era in literary criticism in Serbia.
Jovan Deretić
Jovan Deretić ( sr-Cyrl, Јован Деретић; 22 January 1934 – 16 June 2002) was a Serbian historian and author of Serbian literary history. His work ''Istorija Srpske književnosti'' (1983) is the standard work in Serbian literary his ...
was mostly in agreement with this view, and was particularly critical of Nedić's analysis of Zmaj, which he had claimed was particularly under the influence of the two's opposing political ideologies.
Death and legacy
Nedić died in Belgrade on 29 July 1902.
His attempt at setting a new standard of Serbian literature was carried out during the following decades by a younger critic,
Bogdan Popović
Bogdan Popović (Serbian Cyrillic: Богдан Поповић; 20 December 1863 – 7 November 1944) was one of the most important literary critics and university professors in Serbia and later Yugoslavia and an academic. He was the brother of ...
.
Bibliography
* ''O hipnotizmu'' (On Hypnotism), 1888.
* ''O snu i snovima'' (On Sleep and Dreams), 1888.
* ''O sofizmima'' (On Sophisms), 1889.
* ''Iz novije srpske lirike'' (A Selection from Recent Serbian Lyricism), 1893.
* ''Vekfildski sveštenik'' (
The Vicar of Wakefield
''The Vicar of Wakefield'', subtitled ''A Tale, Supposed to be written by Himself'', is a novel by Anglo-Irish writer Oliver Goldsmith (1728–1774). It was written from 1761 to 1762 and published in 1766. It was one of the most popular and wid ...
), 1898. (a translation)
* ''Noviji srpski pisci'' (Recent Serbian Writers), 1901.
* ''Kritičke studije I'' (Critical Studies Vol. 1), 1910.
See also
*
Petar II Petrović Njegoš Petar ( sr, Петар, bg, Петър) is a South Slavic masculine given name, their variant of the Biblical name Petros cognate to Peter.
Derivative forms include Pero, Pejo, Pera, Perica, Petrica, Periša. Feminine equivalent is Petra.
...
*
Milan Kujundžić Aberdar
*
Jovan Došenović
*
Božidar Knežević
*
Svetozar Marković
Svetozar Marković ( sr-Cyrl, Светозар Марковић, ; 9 September 1846 – 26 February 1875) was a Serbian political activist, literary critic and socialist philosopher. He developed an activistic anthropological philosophy wit ...
*
Dimitrije Matić
*
Konstantin Cukić
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nedic, Ljubomir
1858 births
1902 deaths
People from the Principality of Serbia
19th-century Serbian philosophers
Serbian literary critics
Literary critics of Serbian
Academic staff of Belgrade Higher School