Western Europe has been even less just to the Southern Slavs than to
any other Slav nation; and they who have paid so dearly in blood and
suffering for their freedom are less known and recognized than any
other European nation, in spite of the great historic merit of the
Serbians, and the importance of their culture;—the consideration shown
by Europe to a dynasty has been greater than her justice to a portion
of mankind. A universal conflagration and a breaking-up of the old
order of things was necessary, ere Europe learned to value millions of
human beings more highly than the principle of a bygone generation, or
the pathos of old age. In the future we may hope to see a just Europe
which will not look upon the Serbians as a nation of regicides, but
as a people revolting against secret treaties with the Hapsburgs, and
upon the Southern Slavs, not as traitors, but as a democratic people
refusing to be destroyed. When the Slovenes of Istria, Carniola,
Styria, and Carinthia, together with the Serbo-Croats, form a strong,
prosperous and free, though small State, their culture will be
developed to the full, crowning and unifying Southern Slav life.
This growing civilization of Greater Serbia, which may be called
_Yougoslavia_, will gather up the scattered threads of the history of
Serbian art in the past. We shall then no longer speak of “Slovene
painting,” “Croatian drama,” “Old Serbian tapestry,” “Serbian
folk-lore.” The literature of one and the same people will cease to
be broken up into “Literature in Ragusa,” “Dalmatian Island and Coast
Literature,” “Bosnian,” “Croatian,” and “Serbian” literature. All this,
together with the national life to the State, will form the _totality
of the Southern Slav nation_. The two zones of culture: the Western
European zone of the Croats and Slovenes, and the Eastern-Byzantine
zone of the Serbians; the three religions: Orthodox, Catholic and
Mussulman; the two forms of script: the Latin of the Croats, and the
Cyrillic of the Serbians; all these, as well as a few differences of
speech, will only add to the wealth and originality of Southern Slav
culture. When this Greater Serbia or _Yougoslavia_ shall stand for
the third great civilization of the Balkans (the first was Hellenic,
the second Byzantine), the Southern Slavs will become a new factor
in European civilization and politics, and the great art of Serbian
national poetry, and the work of the Yougoslav artist, Meštrović, will
no longer be buried treasures. Serbian music, literature and science,
although they have existed and still exist, will only then be known and
recognized.
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account