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Defiant Trajectories Mapping out Slavic Women Writers Routes Edited by Katja Mihurko Poniž Biljana Dojčinović Maša Grdešić
Kataložni zapis o publikaciji (CIP) pripravili v Narodni in univerzitetni knjižnici v Ljubljani COBISS.SI-ID 56820227 ISBN 978-961-94672-7-5 (PDF)
Defiant Trajectories Mapping out Slavic Women Writers Routes Edited by Katja Mihurko Poniž Biljana Dojčinović Maša Grdešić
Defiant Trajectories Table of Contents 5
6 Introduction 10 Maša Grdešić
The Gender of Croatian Modernity:
Marija Jurić Zagorka and Ivana
Brlić-Mažuranić
22 Ksenija Rakočević
Divna Veković – Our Heroine
32 Monika Rudaś-Grodzka,
Katarzyna Nadana-Sokolowska,
Emilia Kolinko
Maria Konopnicka (1842–1910): In
Search of Individual Emancipation
46 Ekaterina Artemyuk
The Life and Literary Work of
Russian Women Writers of the
Early 20th Century:
Their Artistic Merit, Cultural
Contribution, and Meaning for the
Present
58 Biljana Dojčinović
The European Routes of Jelena J.
Dimitrijević
72 Katja Mihurko Poniž
Zofka Kveder – Slavic Cultural and
Feminist Icon of the Early 20th
Century6 Introduction
Defiant Trajectories 7
In a seminal work in the history Many middle-class women then
of feminist thought, in the essay A realized that they could make a liv-
Room of One’s Own (1928), Virginia ing by writing and that there was
Woolf writes that at the end of the a world, albeit in the realm of do-
18th century a change came about mesticity, in which a woman was
that was of greater importance the one who set the rules. Howev-
than the Crusades or the Wars of er, their lives were based on wheth-
the Roses, nd that change was that er they decided to get married or
a woman from the middle class whether they remained single.
started writing. If we were to de-
velop this idea further, we could In the late 19th century, women
say that another similarly impor- began to look for alternatives to
tant change took place at the end such trajectories. If, for married
of the 19th century – that is when middle-class women until then, mi-
a middle-class woman, if she had gration to other places was large-
enough financial resources, began ly the consequence of their hus-
to travel quite freely. Both turning band’s career, in the last decades
points changed the course of life of the 19th century they began to
for many women in the Western discover new spaces of freedom
world. The middle-class writer, as – both literally and figuratively.
Nancy Armstrong in her book De- Compared to the trajectories of
sire and Domestic Fiction. A Politi- contemporaries who chose the ex-
cal history of the Novel has shown, pected trajectories, theirs defied
has created a special type of nov- the expectations of society. They
el. Domestic fiction, as Armstrong began to map out the routes by
convincingly argues, “mapped out themselves.
a new domain of discourse as it in-
It is therefore no coincidence
vested common forms of social be-
that the Women Writers Cultural
haviour with the emotional values
Route project focuses not only on
of women”.8
tracking stations on the life tra- wanted to return to France, but
jectories of the women writers we her last journeys remain a mystery,
want to mark on a cultural route and so does her death.
but also on the very act of discover-
ing new spaces. Papers in the vol- In Polish literature, the most
ume, which are extended research cosmopolitan writer of her time
papers presented at the Women is Maria Konopnicka, present-
Writers Route conference in Lju- ed in this volume by Monika
bljana in April 2019, are connected Rudaś-Grodzka, Katarzyna Nada-
by a common thread of crossing na-Sokolowska, and Emilia Kolinko.
actual and symbolic boundaries. On the threshold of the fifth dec-
Croatian writers Marija Jurić Zag- ade of her life, Konopnicka decided
orka and Ivana Brlić Mažuranić, as to leave her homeland and then
presented by Maša Grdešić, each lived for ten years in France, Swit-
sought spaces of freedom in their zerland, Germany, and Italy. She
own way. While Zagorka, as a sin- went on holiday to the Adriatic Sea
gle woman (after bravely escaping several times. Her postcards draw
from a marriage of convenience), her itinerary to family and friends.
crossed the boundaries set by her Maria Konopnicka was esteemed
gender at the beginning of the 20th both in the Polish homeland and
century and aroused the indigna- across its borders, and during her
tion of the guardians of tradition, lifetime she was translated into
Ivana Brlić Mažuranić felt most various Slavic languages. Thus, her
free when she retired to the world literary texts also drew their own
of imagination and created literary itinerary.
texts. The varied political history of
The Montenegrin intellectu- the late 19th and early 20th centu-
al, physician and translator Div- ries led to the migration of Russian
na Veković, presented by Ksenija and Soviet writers, who, if history
Rakočević in this volume, sought had taken place differently, would
freedom in a different way. The probably not have chosen such
path led her from Montenegro to trajectories themselves. Anna
Paris, where she successfully com- Akhmatova, Marina Tsvetaeva and
pleted her medical studies. During Zinaida Gippius, as Ekaterina Ar-
the Great War, she was a doctor on temyuk shows, lived in different
the Salonika front, and the Second parts of Europe. The age in which
World War found her in Yugosla- they lived had a particularly strong
via, where she had come to cele- impact on their trajectories. But
brate the anniversary of the Battle it was not only their lives but also
of Kosovo. Towards the end of the their literary writings that were in-
war, when it was clear that the po- fluenced by ground-breaking his-
litical regime would change, she torical events.Defiant Trajectories 9
The Serbian writer Jelena J. Dim- en writers did not enter the cul-
itrijević is undoubtedly the great- tural field until the second half of
est traveller among the women the 19th century, thus these two
writers we present in this volume women were pioneers in discov-
as she has travelled seven seas ering new paths. Many times, they
and three oceans, as the title of had to clear their way on their own
one of her travelogues says. From as no one before them had done
the beginning of her writing ca- so. The more numerous they were,
reer, she paid particular attention the more paths there were. There-
to the position of women. As a fore, mapping the paths of women
woman who showed an interest in writers is not only creating maps,
Islamic culture and fluently spoke which we then follow and by doing
Turkish, she was able to cross so enrich and deepen our knowl-
thresholds that others could not. edge of female literary authorship,
As the author of the article about but what is more, by following
her, Biljana Dojčinović, points out their footsteps we celebrate wom-
in America, her distance from the en’s strength, innovation, and cre-
European homeland also enabled ativity.
her to have a different view of the
old continent. Jelena J. Dimitrijević
developed many friendships dur-
ing her travels in different foreign
countries, but she also had many
compatriots in Yugoslavia whom
she appreciated and correspond-
ed with.
Among them was a Sloveni-
an-born multicultural author Zofka
Kveder. Katja Mihurko Poniž fol-
lows Kveder’s itinerary but also the
traces she left in her relationships
with other people – many intellec-
tuals at the time saw her as a role
model, a kind of cultural and fem-
inist icon of Central and Southern
Europe. Mihurko Poniž also ex-
plores how Kveder’s life and works
were interpreted in obituaries.
In many Slavic literatures (the
exceptions in this volume are Pol-
ish and Russian literatures), wom-Maša Grdešić
The Gender of Croatian
Modernity:
Marija Jurić Zagorka and
Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić
Marija Jurić Zagorka Ivana Brlić-MažuranićDefiant Trajectories 11
Over the course of the past Since the beginning of the
ten to fifteen years, we have seen nineteenth century or since the
a surge of academic interest in Croatian literary revival, so-called
women writers among Croatian “newer” Croatian literature was
literary scholars, due largely to the characterized by a strong social
growing influence of feminist theo- and political function. This changed
ry and cultural studies. This seems somewhat at the turn of the twen-
especially to be the case with early tieth century, but mostly in theory,
20th-century women writers who because in practice Croatian aes-
were previously marginalized or theticism was still firmly tied to re-
largely invisible in the Croatian lit- alism and a duty to social critique.
erary canon, which was the result This is especially true in the case
of an attempt to conform to the of the novel, which became more
Western canon privileges of mod- modern far more slowly than did
ernist writing and “high” art over poetry or the short story. Accord-
popular literature, as well as of ing to Krešimir Nemec’s complete
male over female authors (Grgić history of the Croatian novel, the
2009, 18). most productive novelists in the
period of aestheticism were ac-
Two women writers currently tually authors of popular novels
attracting the most academic at- (1998, 8). At the time, modernist
tention are Marija Jurić Zagorka and avant-garde tendencies in the
and Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić. Al- novel were rare, weak or modest,
though regularly read and loved by a belief in the utilitarian function
a wide audience, they have largely of literature was strongly upheld,
remained relegated to the fringes and clear communication with the
of the literary canon – Zagorka as reader was also still seen as crucial
a writer of popular historical ro- (44).
mances and Brlić-Mažuranić as an
author of children’s literature.12
Even though most of the novels which were less interesting to lit-
written up until the end of the First erary historians concerned with
World War were either popular or “high” literature, were therefore
realist, and attempts at avant-gar- omitted from the prevailing image
de aesthetic radicalism were mod- of literary modernism, specifically
est in all genres, Croatian literary popular and children’s literature,
history, always striving to establish as well as literary works continuing
parallels with European and West- the realist and naturalist tradition
ern literature, focused on literary (Grgić 2009, 20).
texts demonstrating at least some
modernist characteristics and Only a complete history of Cro-
therefore disregarded the majori- atian literature or the Croatian
ty of novels written in that period. novel, such as Krešimir Nemec’s,
This process came under scrutiny which endeavours to explore lit-
only recently, when Croatian lit- erary styles and texts beyond the
erary historians such as Krešimir official narrative of modernism’s
Nemec (1998) and Zoran Kravar dominance in early 20th-century
(2005) became interested in mod- Croatian literature, can reveal the
ernism as a historical and cultural fact that Zagorka’s popular histor-
era, finally examining literary works ical romances were not an excep-
beyond the limits of the modernist tion or a relic of an abandoned
canon. Kristina Grgić, employing literary past, but were actually at
Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of the the forefront of a very lively and
literary field and drawing on Astra- widespread literary trend (1998,
dur Eysteinsson’s constructivist ap- 13). According to Nemec, popular
proach to the concept of modern- historical novels flourished both
ism in her analysis of Marija Jurić in fin de siècle literature (66) and
Zagorka’s position in Croatian lit- in the period 1914–1945 (86). The
erary history, explains that literary latter period is also defined by the
modernism should be understood emergence of an increasing num-
as the dominant but by no means ber of published women authors,
the only literary paradigm within most of which are only now being
the wider historical and cultural (re)discovered (87).
era (2009, 20). Grgić goes on to say
*
that the dominant understanding
of modernist literature, both in the Again, Marija Jurić Zagorka and
Western and the Croatian literary Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić are the most
canon, is the result of literary criti- widely researched women writers
cism’s privileging of certain literary within contemporary Croatian lit-
forms and techniques typical of erary criticism, particularly owing
“high” literature (20). In this way, to their respective positions in
other forms of literary production, Croatian literary history, and theirDefiant Trajectories 13
differing but equally interesting at- According to Detoni Dujmić, they
titudes towards women’s creativity were torn between literature and
and the woman’s place in culture pedagogy, between their demand-
and society. ing daily jobs as teachers (or wives
and mothers) and their creative
Zagorka’s literary texts, mostly ambitions (22). They were encour-
novels but also plays, were regu- aged to write didactic stories in
larly disparaged by her contempo- the Croatian language for children
rary male critics, not only because and other women for the purpose
they were popular and therefore of countering or overshadowing
inconsistent with the proclaimed popular German-language nov-
cultural values of aestheticism and els, but were then – like Zagorka
modernism, but also because they – undermined for doing so (Nemec
openly displayed their feminist pol- 1998, 75). Didactic, popular, and
itics (Jakobović Fribec 2008, 24). On children’s literature were the only
the other hand, Brlić-Mažuranić’s areas of the literary field women
fairy tales were universally ac- were welcomed into, precisely be-
claimed (Zima 2019, 7-8), but these cause these were not perceived as
seemingly opposing attitudes to- true art or as competition to works
wards the two writers were in fact written by men.
the effect and result of the same
dominant ideas of the feminine Marija Jurić Zagorka and Ivana
and femininity (Felski 1995). Brlić-Mažuranić were contempo-
raries (Dujić 2011, 94), writing pop-
The Croatian National Revival ular and children’s literature in an
in the nineteenth century had en- era that was “historically complex
listed the help of women in the and abounding in events, histo-
fight to establish a national lan- riographically polyvalent, ideolog-
guage and culture. Nevertheless, ically divergent, divided by class
as Dunja Detoni Dujmić points out and gender, and multi-poetic in
in her important book on women terms of culture and literature”
writers in Croatia, Ljepša polovica (Zima 2019, 13). Although it might
književnosti [The Lovelier Half of be easier to focus on the differenc-
Literature], it soon became clear es between the two authors and
that women were only needed as the contrasting reception of their
patronesses of male artists and work among contemporary critics
educators of children, and that this and later literary historians, there
cooperation was largely pragmat- are also many similarities between
ic in nature and short-lived (1998, Zagorka and Brlić-Mažuranić (Dujić
16). Most women writers active at 2011, 101).
the beginning of the twentieth cen-
tury alternated between teaching, Most of the biographical infor-
humanitarian work, and writing. mation on Marija Jurić Zagorka14
has been gleaned from her own marriage and returned to Zagreb.
autobiographical texts as well as
from her novel Kamen na cesti [A In 1896, she succeeded in pub-
Stone in the Road], which is fre- lishing her first political article in
quently read as based on her own Obzor [The Horizon], a leading
life (Jakobović-Fribec 2008, 30). Croatian newspaper. Most of her
Only recently, Zagorka scholars early articles are pro-Croatian and
such as Slavica Jakobović-Fribec anti-Hungarian in tone. She faced
and the team behind Marija Jurić many hardships while working at
Zagorka’s Memorial Apartment in Obzor, such as gender discrimina-
Zagreb have more strongly relied tion, contempt from colleagues,
on historiographical research in accusations of immoral behaviour,
an attempt to answer the remain- political persecution, and meagre
ing questions about Zagorka’s life. wages, but through hard work and
One such question is the date of incredible persistence Zagorka be-
Zagorka’s birth, which had been came the first woman journalist in
erroneously cited for decades un- Croatia. She was also a feminist
til Jakobović-Fribec discovered and and a labour rights activist. She or-
published the correct date, which ganized the first Croatian women
was 2 March 1873 (2008, 16). workers union in 1897.
Zagorka was born into a mid- In 1903, during the period of
dle-class family, and her father people’s revolt against the Hun-
worked as a foreman at the estate garian ban Khuen Héderváry, Za-
of count Ivan Erdödy.1 Her family gorka single-handedly edited Ob-
soon moved to Baron Geza Rauch’s zor for five months while her male
estate, where she began her edu- colleagues were in jail, and even
cation. Later, she went to school spent ten days in jail herself. She
in Varaždin and Zagreb. While in also organized a women’s protest
Zagreb, she started a school pa- against ban Khuen.
per, wrote stories and a school Slavica Jakobović-Fribec inter-
play. When she was 17, her par- prets Zagorka’s intense pride in
ents forced her to marry an older ending up behind bars as a “fem-
Hungarian railway clerk. Five years inist demand for equal political
later she escaped the oppressive acknowledgement, even in crim-
1 Zagorka’s biography can be com-
inal prosecution” (2008, 22). Za-
piled from many different sources, but the gorka’s time in jail was seen as a
most recent and up-to-date information is “scandalous slipping out of gender
available at http://zagorka.net/biografija/, roles” (Jakobović-Fribec 2008, 23).
the official website of Marija Jurić Zagorka’s
Memorial Apartment in Zagreb, which also
She gained international fame as
houses Croatia’s Centre for Women’s Studies. a foreign correspondent reporting
If not otherwise indicated, the data on Zag- from the Croatian-Hungarian Par-
orka’s life are taken from this valuable source.Defiant Trajectories 15
liament in Budapest in 1906. A year tion of active heroines, who partic-
later, her articles were published ipate not only in the romance plot
in a book called Razvrgnute zaruke but in significant historical events
[Broken Engagements]. In 1909, as well. The public activity of her
she also reported from Vienna on heroines transforms the popular
the so-called Friedjung Process. love story into a feminist narrative
– largely utopian, of course – about
Even though she had already the active role of women in Croa-
written two social novels and many tian history (Grdešić 2008, 372).
plays, mostly satirical or historical,
she started writing popular fiction Zagorka’s novels also represent
in 1910. This is the year she pub- a formal departure from other
lished the first Croatian crime nov- popular fiction published in Croa-
el, Kneginja iz Petrinjske ulice [The tia at the same time. Stanko Lasić,
Countess of Petrinjska Street]. Her in his 1986 monograph on Zag-
first popular historical romance, orka, was the first to point out that
Tajna Krvavog mosta [Secret of the Zagorka abandoned the tradition-
Bloody Bridge], was published in al, realist nineteenth-century mod-
1911 and would later become part el of historical fiction, and replaced
of her most famous novel in seven it with what he calls the “freedom
volumes, Grička vještica [The Witch principle”, which manifests itself
of Grič]. Zagorka was also the au- in the radical infinity of the narra-
thor of the first Croatian science tive structure of her popular nov-
fiction novel, Crveni ocean [The Red els (1986, 93). A case in point is
Ocean], published in 1918. her novel Gordana, comprising 12
volumes and almost 9,000 pages. It
As a journalist and author of is the longest novel written in the
fiction, Zagorka consistently cham- Croatian language and one of the
pioned Croatian political indepen- longest in the world.
dence, fought against German and
Hungarian imperialism, advocated Zagorka also continued pursu-
women’s and workers’ rights and ing a journalistic career. She was
promoted social justice (Nemec the founder and editor of two of
1998, 77). Her popular historical fic- Croatia’s earliest women’s maga-
tion was, as Ivo Hergešić described zines, Ženski list [Woman’s Paper,
it, “a great school of activism” 1925-1938] and Hrvatica [Croatian
(quoted in Nemec 1998, 66), but Woman, 1938-1941]. Finally, she
unlike the majority of popular nov- published her significant overt-
els in the first half of the twentieth ly feminist novel Kamen na cesti
century, Zagorka’s romances were [A Stone in the Road, 1932-1934],
not moralistic and pious, but were about a woman trying to live and
politically subversive. This is ac- work independently in the patri-
complished through the construc- archal society, as well as several16
autobiographical essays catalogu- to the countryside, to Slavonski
ing the many prejudices and in- Brod, with her husband and they
justices she was forced to endure had six children in ten years, two of
as a woman in the public realm. whom died (19). Fifteen years later,
Marija Jurić Zagorka died in 1957. she gave birth to another daughter
According to Nemec, she remains (25). She struggled with postpar-
the most popular Croatian writer tum depression and depression
(1998, 74). for most of her life, and in the end
committed suicide at the age of 64
At first glance, it seems Ivana (Zima 2019, 375).
Brlić-Mažuranić’s life story could
not be more different than Zag- She took up writing again after
orka’s.2 Her upper middle-class her children were born. Her most
family was one of the most respect- famous works are the children’s
ed in Croatia. Her grandfather was novel Čudnovate zgode šegrta
Ivan Mažuranić, Croatia’s first “ban Hlapića [The Marvelous Adventures
commoner”, her father Vladimir of Hlapić the Apprentice] and Priče
was a lawyer and politician, and iz davnina [Croatian Tales of Long
her grandmother Aleksandra was Ago] a collection of original fairy
the sister of the poet Dimitrija De- tales inspired by Slavic mythology
meter (Zima 2001, 13-15). She was and informed by a Christian worl-
born in 1874 in Ogulin, but her dview, which was first published in
family moved to Zagreb in 1882. 1916 and translated into English as
She mostly had private tutors and early as 1924 (Zima 2001, 22–25).
started writing poetry in Croatian The Tales were translated into ten
and French very early, as well as languages in the 1920s and 1930s
keeping a diary (15-17). and earned their author the nick-
name of “the Croatian Hans Chris-
Respecting her family’s wishes, tian Andersen” (25–27).
she married Vatroslav Brlić, a law-
yer from another renowned Croa- During the 1930s, she was nom-
tian intellectual family, when she inated for the Nobel Prize in Liter-
was 18 years old (17). She moved ature four times (Zima 2019, 349).
She was also the first woman to
2 Dubravka Zima is the most prom-
become a corresponding member
inent Croatian expert on the life and work
of Brlić-Mažuranić. Her books Ivana Brlić of the Yugoslav Academy of Scienc-
Mažuranić and Praksa svijeta. Biografija Ivane es and Arts in 1937 (351–52).
Brlić-Mažuranić [The Practice of the World. A
Biography of Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić] should be The reactions of Zagorka’s and
used as principal references in all discussions Brlić-Mažuranić’s contemporaries
on Brlić-Mažuranić. The website of the muse-
um in Ogulin dedicated to Ivana Brlić-Mažura-
to their work, and consequently
nić’s fairy tales, Ivana’s House of Fairy Tales, is their respective positions in Cro-
also a valuable source of information: http:// atian literary history, could not
baza.ivaninakucabajke.hr/hr/o-bajkama.Defiant Trajectories 17
have been more different. Dur- Dunja Detoni Dujmić describes
ing her lifetime, Zagorka endured Brlić-Mažuranić’s feminism as
many hateful and violent attacks “mystical-utopian” and contrasts it
from her male critics, who called with Zagorka’s brand of increasing-
her writing “Schundliteratur [trash] ly politically committed feminism
for peasant women” (Lasić 1986, (1998, 209). But even though their
101), and also from her political concepts of feminism and activism
enemies, who labelled her a “dis- diverge, what connects these two
gusting man-woman” because of superbly talented women writers
her non-conforming appearance is the way their will to write was
and attitude in terms of gender suppressed as inappropriate for a
(76). Conversely, but originating woman: it was proclaimed unnat-
from the same patriarchal ideal ural and monstrous in Zagorka’s
of femininity, Brlić-Mažuranić was case (Jakobović-Fribec 2008, 24),
described by Ulderiko Donadini and in Ivana’s case interpreted as
as “a true Croatian aristocrat – a an extension of her maternal du-
mother, an honourable lady”, and ties (Zima 2019, 249). It is for this
her writing an expression of “such reason that Zagorka consistently
heartfelt, feminine charm and el- claimed that she had made no sig-
egance; a soul that one senses as nificant contribution to Croatian
a silk handkerchief in the breeze” literature. Her feminine “anxiety of
(quoted in Detoni Dujmić 1998, authorship”, as Gilbert and Gubar
39), precisely because she seemed termed this condition (2000, 7),
to conform to the same gender ex- manifested itself in publicly down-
pectations. According to Dubravka playing her literary accomplish-
Zima, Brlić-Mažuranić seemed to ments. For instance, she writes in
“accept, symbolically and explicit- one of her autobiographies: “I have
ly, the class and representational told my audience from the stage
expectations of 19th-century public that I am not and never will be a
and private gender politics” (2019, writer, nor have I tried to be one.
8). Zagorka, on the other hand, My profession is journalism. I have
is nowadays seen as the “petite written novels only as propagan-
Amazon of Croatian feminism” da against German novels” (Jurić
(Sklevicky, 1996). Brlić-Mažuranić’s Zagorka 1997, 487).
class position, higher social stand-
ing, acceptance of the role of wife On the other hand, as Dubrav-
and mother, but also the projec- ka Zima explains, Ivana’s upbring-
tion of her maternal duties onto ing instilled in her an “essentialist
her writing, all help explain her understanding of a woman’s social
stronger and more stable place and personal duty”, which led her
(compared to Zagorka) in the Croa- to “neglect and subvert the need
tian literary canon. to write” (2019, 249). Zima regards
Ivana’s firm belief in “women’s du-18
ties” and her strong Christian mo- social role and her own creative
rality epitomized in humility and impulses, always thinking of her
modesty as two key reasons for maternal duty, strongly believing
suppressing her own will to write it “brings peace to the soul” (Zima
(250). In her 1916 autobiography, 2019, 373), while at the same time
simply called Autobiografija, Brlić- realizing that it “was impossible to
Mažuranić writes: attain or hold onto this peace be-
lieving in the same ideas she had
My great wish that anything I acquainted herself with in the by-
wrote would sometime be pub- gone 1880s” (375).
lished was repressed from a
young age by another strong *
feeling: early in life my reason-
ing led me to the conclusion Contemporary academic re-
that writing did not agree with search reveals that the life and
the duties of a woman. Until fif- work of both Marija Jurić Zagorka
teen years ago, this struggle be- and Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić is a great
tween a strong desire to write deal more complex and contra-
and this (right or wrong) feeling dictory than dated stereotypes of
of duty had completely con- femininity suggest. In recent years,
tained my public literary work. many academic papers and a num-
(Brlić-Mažuranić 1997, 524) ber of books and edited volumes
have been published on both writ-
According to Zima, “Ivana de- ers, and both authors now have
cided to publish her work only museums dedicated to preserving
after she recognized it as part of their legacy: the museum dedicat-
her duties as a mother, i.e. when ed to Zagorka is located in her Za-
she wanted to provide her chil- greb apartment, and also houses
dren with suitable literature” (Zima the Croatian Centre for Women’s
2013). However, it is interesting to Studies; Brlić-Mažuranić’s work
note that in her autobiography she is celebrated in Ivana’s House of
states that her favourite work up Fairy Tales in Ogulin.
until 1916 was Slike [Images], a col-
lection of poems for adults. Zima This new research has cer-
interprets this as a “departure from tainly led to Zagorka’s and Brlić-
[…] principle” and an “admission Mažuranić’s more central position
that her desire to write overpowers in the Croatian literary canon;
the guilt caused by her dismissal of however, these changes have also
‘women’s duties’” (2013). It seems raised more general questions
that Brlić-Mažuranić found herself about the place of women writers
in a contradictory position typical in the canon. In writing her (al-
for women artists in the modern ready mentioned) book on Croa-
era, torn between her feminine tian women authors, Dunja DetoniDefiant Trajectories 19
Dujmić aims to establish their con- by women writers “cross national
tribution to Croatian literature as a as well as temporal boundaries”
whole and does not mean to sepa- (xxi). Finally, the question wheth-
rate and segregate their work. But er the canon can be expanded to
it still remains to be seen whether accommodate popular literature
this list of women authors will cre- and children’s literature, which
ate a distinct “feminine canon”, or often do not follow the aesthet-
whether it will simply be added to ic tendencies of “high” literature
the existing masculine canon as a at all, brings us to a standstill. As
kind of “appendix”, as Lada Čale Kristina Grgić states, simply add-
Feldman described it (1999, 151), ing Zagorka’s name to the mod-
or whether it will actually be inte- ernist literary canon would not
grated into the history of Croatian significantly change her marginal
literature. position in Croatian literary history
(2009, 32). On the other hand, pre-
The crucial question now cisely because of their marginality,
seems to be: is it even possible to her texts have the potential to en-
integrate women writers into the courage a critical rethinking of pre-
Croatian literary canon without vailing ideas of modernism and the
reforming it or doing away with it canon (32).
altogether? And if the value system
underlying the canon is annulled, Although the canon can still be
is the concept of the canon still a useful and practical tool, it is nec-
sustainable? Every national liter- essary to challenge the aesthetic
ature has authors, both male and and ideological values underlying
female, who cannot be conven- its formation and transformation.
iently included in a specific literary Rita Felski does precisely this in
period. Indeed, when it comes to her seminal book The Gender of
Croatian literature, this seems to Modernity when she analyses the
be the case with the majority of au- different myths of modernity. She
thors since the nineteenth century. tries to see what would happen to
Due to specific social, political, and our conventional understanding of
aesthetic reasons, “newer” Croa- modernity if we looked at it from
tian literature is continually out the perspective of women writers
of step with European literature. and women readers, and if we
The problem becomes even more focused on texts by women and
complex when we attempt to bring about women. Now “those dimen-
women authors into the fold be- sions of culture either ignored,
cause, as Gilbert and Gubar have trivialized, or seen as regressive
claimed, the chronology of wom- rather than authentically modern
en authors “is not always quite – feelings, romantic novels, shop-
the same as men’s” (2000, xxix), ping, motherhood, fashion – gain
and the similarities between texts dramatically in importance”, she20 claims (1995, 22). Felski maintains that the “equation of masculinity with modernity and femininity with tradition is only one of various pos- sible stories about the nature and meaning of the modern era” (2). In the same way, a different story about the gender of Croa- tian modernity can be told if we choose to highlight popular and children’s authors like Marija Jurić Zagorka and Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić. We might even come to realize that Croatian modern literature is dom- inantly popular and feminine.
Works cited
Brlić-Mažuranić, Ivana. “Autobi- Jakobović-Fribec, Slavica. “Zagorka
ografija.” Autobiografija hrvatskih pi- – subjekta otpora: svjedokinja, akteri-
saca, edited by Vinko Brešić, Zagreb, ca, autorica – ili feminizam, ovlašćivan-
AGM, 1997, pp. 521–31. je slobode i ravnopravnosti žene,
politička strast 20. stoljeća.” Neznana
Čale Feldman, Lada. “Lijepa i ljepša
junakinja. Nova čitanja Zagorke, edited
književnost.” Treća, časopis Centra za
by Maša Grdešić and Slavica Jakobo-
ženske studije, no. 2, 1999, pp. 150–52.
vić-Fribec, Zagreb, Centar za ženske
Detoni Dujmić, Dunja. Ljepša polovi- studije, 2008, pp. 13–42.
ca književnosti. Zagreb, Matica hrvats-
Jurić Zagorka, Marija. “Što je moja
ka, 1998.
krivnja?” Autobiografije hrvatskih pisaca,
Dujić Lidija. “A gdje sam bila prije edited by Vinko Brešić, Zagreb, AGM,
jučer ja? Kako su Marija Jurić Zagorka 1997, pp. 451–99.
i Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić spojile spisatel-
Kravar, Zoran. Svjetonazorski sepa-
jstvo s dužnostima ženskim.” Malleus
rei. Antimodernističke tendencije u hr-
Maleficarum. Zagorka, feminizam, an-
vatskoj književnosti ranoga 20. stoljeća.
tifeminizam, edited by Maša Grdešić,
Zagreb, Golden Marketing-Tehnička
Zagreb, Centar za ženske studije, 2011,
knjiga, 2005.
pp. 93-104.
Lasić, Stanko. Književni počeci Marije
Felski, Rita. The Gender of Modernity.
Jurić Zagorke. Zagreb, Znanje, 1986.
Harvard UP, 1995.
Nemec, Krešimir. Povijest hrvatskog
Gilbert, Sandra M., and Susan Gu-
romana od 1900. do 1945. godine. Za-
bar. The Madwoman in the Attic. The
greb, Znanje, 1998.
Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Cen-
tury Literary Imagination. 2nd ed., Yale Sklevicky, Lidija. “Patuljasta ama-
UP, 2000. zonka hrvatskog feminizma: Marija
Jurić Zagorka.” Konji, žene, ratovi, Za-
Grdešić, Maša. “‘Divno čudovište’”:
greb, Ženska infoteka, 1996, pp. 245–
uvod u Zagorkinu koncepciju an-
47.
droginije.” Neznana junakinja. Nova či-
tanja Zagorke, edited by Maša Grdešić Zima, Dubravka. Ivana Brlić Mažura-
and Slavica Jakobović Fribec, Zagreb, nić. Zagreb, Zavod za znanost o književ-
Centar za ženske studije, 2008, pp. nosti Filozofskoga fakulteta u Sveučiliš-
357–88. ta Zagrebu, 2001.
Grgić, Kristina. “Marija Jurić Zag- ---. Praksa svijeta. Biografija Ivane
orka i kanon modernizma.” Mala rev- Brlić-Mažuranić. Zagreb, Ljevak, 2019.
olucionarka. Zagorka, feminizam i pop-
---. “Slike.” Baza bajki, 2013, http://
ularna kultura, edited by Maša Grdešić,
baza.ivaninakucabajke.hr/hr/o-bajka-
Zagreb, Centar za ženske studije, 2009,
ma/ivana-brlic-mazuranic-knjizevnost/
pp. 17–36.
slike Accessed 30 June 2020.
Photo credits
Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain.Ksenija Rakočević
Divna Veković –
Our Heroine
Divna VekovićDefiant Trajectories 23
Montenegrin culture origi- Montenegrin culture clearly
nated on tribal grounds, and it is recognizes models of behaviour
known that the tribe has powerful that are acceptable and desirable,
defence mechanisms by which it and, as the main rule of survival
overcomes, subjugates or elim- in a rugged and poor, largely in-
inates disobedient individuals. fertile land, constantly exposed to
Thus, the traditional arrangement the dangers of powerful external
of Montenegrin culture maintains forces, the principle of the animal
its existence in the firm grip of kingdom is imposed – in the form
tribal culture, whose strict rules of the stronger one’s oppression,
everyone must obey. That is to say, which recognizes the physical as
tribal culture functions as a solid the only authoritative force. Given
and resistant network into which that Montenegrin history is full of
the memory of collective and so- frequent wars in which mostly men
cial values is deposited, forming served, misogyny has become (and
a stable axiological system with remains) one of the most promi-
a cult at its centre (in the case of nent elements of Montenegrin so-
Montenegrin culture, it is a cult of ciety. Until two decades ago, Mon-
honour and valour), according to tenegrin reality was permeated by
and against whose rigorous pa- constant wars, struggles, and oth-
rameters the behaviour of an in- er forms of militant activity which,
dividual is measured. The relation- by the logic of things (and physical
ship between man and the spatial strength), involved greater partici-
appearance of the world is no less pation of men and served as fertile
complicated. On the one hand, ground on which to impose the
that appearance is created by a “pater familias” model. (Gezeman
man, and on the other, it actively 2003, 17)
forms a man who is immersed in it
(Gezeman 2003, 17).24
Freedom, to which everything ing conditions contributed to Mon-
is subordinated, is striven for in tenegro’s lack of progress. What
all ways. This implies that culture develops inside this framework, in
was instrumentalized and often accordance with the oral tradition,
abused, among other things, with is discursive rather than situational
the aim of elevating the Montene- power, so notions of heroism and
grin man to the pedestal. The war- the constant need to fight for and
rior tradition is deeply woven into maintain a sense of freedom are
Montenegrin national existence passed from generation to gener-
and inhumane living conditions ation and woven deeply into Mon-
have contributed to discriminating tenegrin national life. Under such
against and marginalizing women conditions, the idea of human
on the basis of physical strength. rights develops more slowly than
In such tribal systems, invariant in more economically developed
units such as ancestral cults and communities.
glorious pasts, a stable axiology
and tribal-patriarchal patterns of Women in Montenegro enjoyed
behaviour influence the organiza- their most favourable position
tional principles of the life of com- following the Second World War,
munity members. thanks to the activities of the AFŽ
(the Women’s Antifascist Front),
Among the former republics of after which Montenegrin women
Yugoslavia, the position of women along with women in other parts
in Montenegro was the most en- of Yugoslavia gained the right to
dangered. The creation and sur- vote.1 In addition, the Party took
vival of every nation is based on care of women in a way that al-
a vicious and dangerous base of lowed them to work and have fam-
myths. One of the central myths ilies, while their children stayed in
Montenegrin culture is based on is state-funded kindergartens. For
the myth of man as a superior be- the first time in history, women
ing, which is closely related to the would be paid the same as men,
dominant Christian (monotheistic and in addition, obligatory celiba-
and monocentric) tradition, and cy, which was previously associat-
one built on the postulate of the
holy (male) trinity: God the Father, 1 In the first Constitution of the Fed-
Son, and Holy Spirit. (Blehova Čel- eral People’s Republic of Yugoslavia (FNRJ) af-
ebić 2002, 129) ter the Second World War, dated 31 January
1946, Article 24 states: “Women are equal to
men in all areas of state, economic and so-
Small and economically disor-
cio-political life.” Until 1946, women in Mon-
ganized Montenegro, even within tenegro did not have the right to vote. The
the former Yugoslavia, lagged in first elections for the National Assembly of
terms of enlightenment and edu- Montenegro were held on 27 November (O.
S. 14 November) 1905, and women could not
cation. Barren rock and difficult liv-
participate in the elections.Defiant Trajectories 25
ed with occupations such as teach- presented in his book Crnogorski
ing, would be abolished. čovjek [Montenegrin Man] which
records various harsh customs
In Montenegro, between the such as the fact that all jobs that
two world wars, and especially af- involved bending spine were done
ter the Second World War, some- by women, because it was con-
thing happened in terms of the sidered humiliating for a man to
position of women that was char- bend, or for a man to cry when a
acteristic of a large number of Eu- woman died (Seferović 2014, 47).
ropean countries. In other words,
what happened was the particular The Institutionalization
irony that the biggest wars – which of Women’s Education in
decimated the secular popula- Montenegro
tion, employed new battle tech-
nologies and the use of hitherto Bearing in mind that in Mon-
unseen weapons – brought both tenegro there was more war than
considerable rights and relief to peace, and that the tribal order
the position of women in society. and popular widespread traditions
Up until then, women had been modelled the axiological system,
tied exclusively to the space of the it is hardly surprising that there
home and/or the estate; but when was a marked lag in terms of ed-
there were no longer enough men ucation, especially when it came
to serve the war effort, women to women. The beginning of edu-
were transferred from such spaces cation and schooling of women in
to the battlefield. By proving that Montenegro is closely connected
they were capable of carrying rifles with the name of Jelena Vicković,
and fighting, after the Second War who gathered and educated girls
they finally got what they had been in Cetinje in a non-institutional
denied for centuries. but organized form. The first pri-
vate school for female children
The position of women in old opened in Cetinje in 1872, while
Montenegro is well illustrated by two more were soon opened in
the fact that public beatings were Podgorica (1888) and Bar (1901).
prohibited only by the Code of King By the same token, however, all
Nikola (1860-1918) and up until this time the education of female
then women had not been allowed children was neither obligatory nor
to sit at the same table with men; legally prescribed, but depended
and even if the men concerned solely on the will of their parents.
were boys, they even had the ad- Particularly important for the ed-
vantage of being the first to cross ucation of women in Montenegro
the street. The difficult position of was the founding of the Girls’ In-
women is well documented in the stitute in Cetinje, in 1869, under
writings of Gerhard Gesemann as the auspices of Russian Empress26
Maria. The launch of the Institute, the Institute operated together
which provided free education with the Theological Seminary,
to talented female children from which was attended by boys, and
Montenegro and elsewhere, tes- which was located in Billiards; later
tified to King Nikola’s progressive a new building was built specifical-
ideas and his desire and aspiration ly for the needs of this educational
to improve the position of women. institution.
(During his reign, many previous-
ly permitted discriminatory acts, The compulsory subjects stud-
such as the public beating of wom- ied were Serbian, French, Russian,
en and the rule that a man always mathematics, geography, history,
had the right to cross the street women’s handicrafts, housekeep-
first were abolished). During his ing, drawing, singing, gymnastics,
stay in Russia, King Nikola (Njeguši psychology, logic, and the science
1841-Antibes 1921) had the op- of education. It is important to
portunity to meet educated wom- mention that the Institute empha-
en and he had the idea that there sized the preparation of girls for
should be a place in Montenegro family life and care for family val-
where women could get education ues, while in the background was
and nurture the ideological values the possibility of continuing educa-
on which the organization of Mon- tion and participating in the com-
tenegrin society rested.2 munity to which they belonged.
Those who came from wealthier
The Girls’ Institute in Cetinje families often opted to go into
was the first women’s high school teaching. However, most of the
in Montenegro. The enrolment students finished their education
documents reveal a plan to admit upon leaving the Institute.
24 students, but the first genera-
tion of women students saw only Although conceived as an insti-
12 admitted, which testifies to the tution that would contribute to the
parents’ lack of interest in educat- education of local girls, most of the
ing female children, but also to girls enrolled at the Institute were
the strongly rooted patriarchy in foreigners, and of the 450 students
place. The youngest of the 12 stu- who passed through the Institute
dents was just 9 years old; how- only 205 were from Montenegro.
ever, none of those enrolled were Different views of the Institute’s
literate and the Institute, although activities surfaced in 1904 when
conceived as a secondary school, the Government of Montenegro
operated as an institution for pri- sent a request to the Russian court
mary education. At the beginning, to reform the curriculum with the
hope that it would pay more atten-
2 See: https://www.muzejzena.me/ tion to issues important to Mon-
kalendar.45.kalendar.htmlDefiant Trajectories 27
tenegro in the schooling of young under Ottoman rule. However, it
girls; but the request was not met should be noted that women were
favourably on the part of the Rus- being educated in the area of to-
sian court, and the Institute was day’s Kotor centuries ago, that is,
shut down. in Kotor there was a private edu-
cational institution for women (in
A Culturally Divided the form of a monastery) as early
Montenegro as 1500, and in 1550 the city had
a free educational institution for
If we look at the history of
women. It is also interesting that,
Montenegro through the lens of
during that time, at these monas-
today’s borders, the difference
teries, attention was paid to liter-
and imbalance between the south
ature, and women enjoyed a high
(specifically the area of Boka) and
level of financial independence
the north is particularly apparent.
(the dowry they would receive at
Such a situation is not at all sur-
marriage belonged exclusively to
prising, bearing in mind that in dif-
them, and only they could decide
ferent parts of today’s Montenegro
on and dispose of it, while in the
different invaders operated and
event of a divorce the dowry was
exerted their influence, ultimately
indivisible).3
having a lasting impact on the cul-
ture and way of life assumed by In a way, the fact that this city
the local population. This situation venerates the cult of the Mother of
also affects the position of women, God far more than it honours the
which is reflected in her position in cult of Jesus speaks of the privi-
society, in family relations, and in leged position of women in medi-
the possibilities of gaining educa- eval Kotor. A similarly high status
tion and achieving a certain degree of veneration is given to Blessed
of independence. Osanna, the patroness of the city
The centuries-old colonial or of Kotor, about whom plenty of
semi-colonial framework in which material exists in the Archives of
different parts of today’s Monte- Kotor, as well as in the Library of
negro found themselves led to the Maritime Museum and the Mu-
an emphasis on two dominant seum of the City of Perast, which
influences: the Austro-Hungari-
3 Records on the existence of wom-
an in Boka, and the Turkish in the en’s education in the Bay of Kotor (part of
north of Montenegro. Therefore, it Montenegro) since the 16th century can be
should be mentioned that the area found in the Church of St. Nicholas, among
of today’s Kotor, i.e. Boka, was far which are the records of Don Niko Luković,
who described in detail the life of Blessed
more progressive compared to the Osanna and the origin of Prčanj. In addition,
rest of the country. It is important Don Luković writes about the institutional ed-
to point out that Boka did not fall ucation of women in Kotor during the 16th
century.28
testifies to the reputation that this, certainly embodied in the work of
originally rural, person enjoyed Divna Veković from the Girls’ Insti-
among the people of Kotor. tute in Cetinje. Some 450 students
graduated from the Girls’ Institute,
The fact that the women of but the number of girls who came
Kotor took part in the defence of from today’s north of Montenegro
the City against the Ottoman fleet was negligible. The most notable
in the 16th century, during which among them, and certainly one of
they, as Don Niko Luković notes, the institute’s most important stu-
took up arms, also speaks of the dents in general, is Divna Veković,
more active participation of wom- the first woman Doctor of Philos-
en in issues of general importance. ophy from Montenegro, who, un-
In addition, women were involved fortunately, has been researched
in finance, and it was not unusu- or written about very little. The
al for them to study and serve as decades-long silence on the signif-
pharmacists. (Luković 1965, 113) icance of this woman from Berane
for Montenegrin history, which is
Such an encouraging situation
already sadly lacking as regards
in the area of today’s Montenegro
women, represents an additional
is valid only for the area of Boka,
problem. Few university profes-
and more specifically Kotor, even
sors or historians in Montenegro
when it comes to much more re-
have written about Divna Veković;
cent, that is, more modern periods.
and historical subjects on the pe-
As has already been mentioned,
riod, taught in the History Study
the institutionalized education of
Program at the University of Mon-
women only relates to the end of
tenegro, make no mention of her.
the 19th century, and documenta-
ry material on earlier periods re- In accordance with the domi-
lated to the north and the rest of nant, warrior-centred view of Mon-
Montenegro is almost negligible. tenegrin history, with wars and
Women in this area are predomi- battles being taught in primary and
nantly attached to the family home secondary schools, Divna Veković
and the difficult, even dangerous, is not given any space in history
position of Montenegrin women is teaching (except in the 20% of the
well documented by Gerhard Ge- curriculum in which teachers are
semann in his Montenegrin Man, free to choose what is included in
where he records some of the agreement with the local commu-
Montenegrin patriarchal-misog- nity and student-related bodies).
ynistic customs bordering on the
bizarre. (Gezeman 2003, 171) There is not a single document
related to Divna Veković in the
However, the bright spot in most important libraries in Mon-
Montenegrin women’s history is tenegro, except in the National Li-Defiant Trajectories 29
brary Đurađ Crnojević and in the Divna Veković is the first Doc-
library of the Eparchy of Budiml- tor of Philosophy from Monte-
ja-Nikšić (which includes the area negro, the first dentist, and the
of Berane near which Veković was first translator of Petar II Petrović
born). We also consider the num- Njegoš’s Gorski vijenac [The Moun-
ber of references to Divna Veković tain Wreath, 1847]. Veković com-
that we managed to find in library pleted the translation of Njegoš’s
databases to be worryingly small, text in 1915 in Paris, and two years
so few as could be counted on one later the translation was pub-
hand. lished. The foreword to the French
edition of The Mountain Wreath was
Divna Veković was born in 1886 written by the French author Henri
in Berane, in the village of Lužac, de Régnier, who had nothing but
the youngest of seven children. praise for the translation, stating
She finished primary school in her that it was one of the most popular
hometown, at the Đurđevi Stupovi texts in Serbian literature. Howev-
monastery, after which she went to er, the translation of Divna Vekov-
Skopje for further education. As she ić did not receive similar praise
produced enviable results during among domestic critics, with Luka
her schooling, she became a schol- Dotlić and Nikola Banašević play-
arship holder of the Girls’ Institute ing roles in the criticism of Vekov-
in Cetinje, where she also excelled ić’s translation.
and became a holder of King Niko-
la’s scholarship, which enabled her The topics Njegoš deals with
to continue her education in Amiens in his work are far from unknown
in France, after which she would to French readers, who are well
go on to attend the Sorbonne. She familiar with heroic epic poems,
graduated in 1917, from the two- but there are huge cultural differ-
year Dental School in Paris. During ences between Montenegrin and
the First World War, she was en- French folklore and ritual. Due to
gaged in collecting aid for the Ser- the characteristic verse in which
bian army, even though her place it is written, Veković opted for a
of permanent residence was Paris. prose translation of the poem, for
She came to Yugoslavia in 1939 to which she offered explanations in
celebrate the 550th anniversary of the notes.
the Battle of Kosovo. Shortly after
her return to Yugoslavia, a new war Because The Mountain Wreath is
broke out and Veković failed to re- full of localisms and dialect-related
turn to France, which is why she details characteristic exclusively of
spent the occupation in Berane, Montenegrin culture, and because
working in the People’s Administra- the tribal organization and opin-
tion of Montenegro as a part-time ions dictated the official hierarchi-
official at the Health Centre. cal order in terms of axiological30
characteristics (duke, serdar [field historical figures of Montenegro
marshall], etc.), Divna Veković of- who had the misfortune of be-
fered an explanation for all of this ing largely silenced, bearing in
(Radanović 2012). Based on the mind that “history is written by
adapted translation, it is obvious the winners”. During the wars,
that Veković is well-acquainted Veković was engaged in civil mili-
with French poetry from the Re- tary service and was dedicated to
naissance through Romanticism humanitarian and medical work.
and on to Symbolism. Bearing in However, her ideology tied her to
mind that the central idea of The the monarchist system, and at the
Mountain Wreath is the spread of end of World War II she became a
libertarian thought, while the erot- refugee. Her death remains unex-
ic and the aesthetic remain loom- plained, so a number of versions
ing in the background, Veković’s of it continue to this day – that she
feeling for this particular layer of died before the end of the Second
the text and her success in empha- World War and also that she died
sizing it are interesting. at Zidani Most in eastern Slovenia.
There are conflicting opinions After the monarchists were de-
among Francophonists about the feated, those who sympathized
translation by Veković. However, with or were close to them were
the fact that this young woman slowly forgotten. As a result, Divna
from Berane from a highly tradi- Veković was silenced for decades
tional environment was the first to and she did not manage to gain
translate a key work of the Monte- a different position even after the
negrin canon is certainly of great change of the system. The fact that
importance. no documents exist that would
help us learn more beyond her
In addition to the translation translations only serves to further
of The Mountain Wreath, Divna Ve- complicate our work on Veković.
ković also translated Zmaj Jova Jo-
vanović’ poems, as well as the Life
and Customs of the Serbian People
and a collection of folk tales by
Vuk Karadžić (1787-1864). Vekov-
ić is also the author of two dictio-
naries of the French language and
a French grammar book. She de-
fended her doctoral dissertation in
literature in 1926 in Belgrade.
Conclusion
Divna Veković is one of thoseYou can also read
