Uroš Petrović’s “For Every Day“ and the Dositean Tradition

Abstract

Today predominantly forgotten, Uroš Petrović, a literary critic, literary historian, theatre critic, essayist, and lecturer at the Department of Romance Studies at the University of Belgrade (Gornji Milanovac, 1880 – Prokuplje, 1915), collaborated with relevant periodicals of his time, such as the Serbian Literary Gazette [Srpski književni glasnik], Branko’s Circle [Brankovo kolo], and Chronicle of the Serbian Literary Association [Letopis Matice srpske]. He left behind a work that, while not voluminous, is important and challenging from a hermeneutic perspective. In addition to literary criticism, this intellectual also engaged in moralistic literature, a genre represented and esteemed in the French and English cultural milieu. The present paper interprets the latest, aesthetically most achievement of this author, the book “For Every Day”, published in installments in 1914 in the Serbian Literary Gazette, later issued as a monograph, posthumously, in 1926. In the first segment of the paper, attention is drawn to the poetic affinities of Petrović’s work with that of his contemporaries (“Thoughts” by Božidar Knežević, “Thoughts” by Stanislav Vinaver, and “Insights and Attempts” by Svetislav Stefanović), and then, following Slobodan Jovanović’s lucid observation, parallels are drawn between Dositej Obradović’s “Council of Sound Mind” and Uroš Petrović’s “For Every Day”. It highlights thematic, conceptual, and compositional similarities (interpreting trust in reason, the significance of truth, didactic components, emphasis on reading, and understanding of love and marriage) found in these chronologically distant books. It interprets the central motifs and illuminates how Petrović is integrated into the literary legacy of Dositej Obradović, a legacy that was relevant and influential in early 20th-century Serbian cultural discourse.