The cover of the final issue of ''Svedočanstva'' from March 1925. ''Svedočanstva'' (Testimonies) was a Yugoslav literary periodical published every ten days from 21 November 1924 to 1 March 1925. It was the first periodical based in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

espousing

surrealistic Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

ideas in literature.

Formation

''Svedočanstva'' continued the trend of the monthly ''Putevi'' (Roads, 1922–1924), a

modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

periodical. The differences among the various groups contributing to ''Putevi'' made it impossible to continue together, and the young and more radical group started ''Svedočanstva''.

Content

The first issue of ''Svedočanstva'' was heterogeneous in content and open to experimentation. Among the first few and important contributors were future

surrealists Surrealism is an art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike scenes and id ...

Marko Ristić,

Milan Dedinac Milan Dedinac (Kragujevac, Kingdom of Serbia, 27 September 1902 – Opatija, Yugoslavia, 26 September 1966) was a Serbian poet, the most expressive lyricist among the Surrealists. Similar to Crnjanski, although in a different way, he was a fol ...

, Dušan Matić, Rastko Petrović,

Tin Ujević Augustin Josip "Tin" Ujević (; 5 July 1891 – 12 November 1955) was a Croatian poet, considered by many to be the greatest poet in 20th century Croatian literature. From 1921, he ceased to sign his name as Augustin, thereafter using the sig ...

, Mladen Dimitrijević and Aleksandar Vučo. It contained the first mention of the term "surrealism" in

, and was published two months after

André Breton André Robert Breton (; ; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer and poet, the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of surrealism. His writings include the first ''Surrealist Manifesto'' (''Manifeste du surréalisme'') ...

's '' Manifeste du surréalisme''. The first issue was dedicated to

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

n poet and

bohemian Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, originally practised by 19th–20th century European and American artists and writers. * Bohemian style, a ...

. The editors announced that ''Svedočanstva'' would be a publication for experiments in literature, favoring poetic dream over concrete reality. The first four issues were mainly dedicated to poetry. A part of the fifth issue indulged in the interpretations of dreams and prophecies, while the sixth issue, with a foreword by Dušan Matić, was dedicated to the confessions of mentally ill people. The seventh issue was the culmination in the experiments by representing "Hell" by visionary testimonials of deaf and blind persons, criminals, suicidal people and executioners. The last issue took for its theme "Paradise", examining the roots and true meaning of the world, and reducing it to a dream world and lie. Although ''Svedočanstva'' denied it was a surrealists' organ, and although it never published any manifestos by surrealists, and its contributors denied being surrealists, the content of ''Svedočanstva'' indicates that it was the first periodical in

espousing surrealistic ideas in literature.

Legacy

Between the cessation of ''Svedočanstva'' and 1930, there was no periodical in

with a clear

orientation. Former contributors spread into various other periodicals, such as ''50 u Evropi'' (50 in Europe, 1928), ''Tragovi'' (Trails, 1929) and ''Večnost'' (Infinity). In 1930, the Belgrade surrealists came out with their first publication, the

almanac An almanac (also spelled almanack and almanach) is a regularly published listing of a set of current information about one or multiple subjects. It includes information like weather forecasting, weather forecasts, farmers' sowing, planting dates ...

''Nemoguće'' (The Impossible). There, they presented themselves as a formal group and outlined their goals and activities. The group mentioned past publications to which its members contributed – ''Putevi'', ''Svedočanstva'' and ''Tragovi'', omitting ''50 u Evropi'' since it had assumed a different orientation in 1930. A second periodical named ''Svedočanstva'' was published biweekly in Belgrade during 1952 and was edited by Aleksandar Vučo. Besides literature, the new ''Svedočanstva'' dealt with art, science, politics and social issues. Contributors to the magazine included

Miroslav Krleža Miroslav Krleža (; 7 July 1893 – 29 December 1981) was a Croatian writer who is widely considered to be the greatest Croatian writer of the 20th century. He wrote notable works in all the literary genres, including poetry ('' The Ballads o ...

Ivo Andrić Ivo Andrić ( sr-Cyrl, Иво Андрић, ; born Ivan Andrić; 9 October 1892 – 13 March 1975) was a Yugoslav novelist, poet and short story writer who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1961 Nobel Prize in Literature, 1961. His writ ...

Josip Vidmar Josip Vidmar (; October 14, 1895 – April 11, 1992) was a notable Slovenian literary critic, essayist, and politician. From 1944 to 1946 he was speaker of the Slovenian People's Liberation Council (Slovenian Parliament). From 1952 to 1976 was ...

, Milan Bogdanović,

Isidora Sekulić Isidora Sekulić ( sr-cyr, Исидора Секулић, 16 February 1877 – 5 April 1958) was a Serbian writer, novelist, essayist, polyglot and art critic. She was "the first woman academic in the history of Serbia" after she joined the Serb ...

, as well as earlier surrealists, Marko Ristić and Dušan Matić. The magazine was an example of the cultural liberalization of 1950's Yugoslavia.

References

External links

''Svedočanstva''
digitized by the

National Library of Serbia The National Library of Serbia () is the national library of Serbia, located in the capital city of Belgrade. It is the biggest library, and oldest institution in Serbia, one that was completely destroyed many times over in the last two centuries ...

(in

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * Pertaining to Serbia in Southeast Europe; in particular **Serbs, a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans ** Serbian language ** Serbian culture **Demographics of Serbia, includes other ethnic groups within the co ...

) {{Italic title 1924 establishments in Yugoslavia 1925 establishments in Serbia 1925 disestablishments Defunct literary magazines published in Europe Defunct magazines published in Yugoslavia Serbian-language magazines Magazines established in 1924 Magazines disestablished in 1925 Surrealist magazines