PRILOG PROUČAVANJU SRPSKO-RUSKIH KULTURNIH VEZA: JOVAN CVIJIĆ I RUSKA INTELIGENCIJA POČETKOM 20. VEKA
A CONTRIBUTION TO THE STUDY OF SERBIAN-RUSSIAN CULTURAL RELATIONS: JOVAN CVIJIĆ AND THE RUSSIAN INTELLIGENTSIA AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 20TH CENTURY

Summary/Abstract: 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 prominentrepresentatives 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.

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