WHOSE IS SIBE MILIČIĆ’S COSMOS?

The use of motifs of Earth and Universe in the Knjiga radosti (1920) in mythological and culturally specific contexts

Abstract

Josip Sibe Miličić (1886–1944), a Serbian and Croatian poet whose works covers the period from early modern times to the literature of the People's Liberation Fight, remains remembered in the history of literature as one of the main poets of cosmism in Serbian poetry, as well as a mysterious figure in Lament nad Beogradom by Miloš Crnjanski, while his works remain mostly unvalued. The reason for this may be found in the period of the “Second Yugoslavia” – where Miličić was considered a Yugoslav nationalist Yugoslav nationalist in the period of the old, royalist regime – while, after the disintegration of Yugoslavia, he remained n the interspace of Serbian and Croatian literature, not of particular interest to either one.

The aim of this paper is to approach the manifest book of Serbian cosmism – Miličić’s Knjiga radosti (1920) – from the positions of culturally specific contexts, and to open the problematic areas of redefining the poetics of cosmism in Serbian poetry, as well as to evaluate Miličić’s poetry in communication with mythological, Christian and Slavic cultural specifics, while also paying attention to the poet’s unique approach to phraseology in Serbian literature – which make this book of poetry both translatable and untranslatable to other languages. This approach leads to results that raise fundamental questions regarding present results when it comes to poetry of Serbian cosmism, as well as opens new perspectives regarding reading, understanding and the reception of Miličić’s Knjiga radosti, as well as his work in general.