The paper analyzes the works of Smilja Đaković. In its first section, the paper provides an overview of previously researched information about the life of this authoress and an analysis of the previous reception of her work, as well as comments about her life. The central part of this paper is an analysis of short stories by Smilja Đaković in the context of (female) war prose and expressionist literary-artistic procedures and thematic frameworks. Smilja Đaković is an authoress who wrote under a pseudonym and whose stories were printed exclusively in magazine Misao [Thought], which she had owned since 1927. The pseudonym (Jovanka Petrović) that she used to publish short stories was only recently uncovered, which led to the revelation that the owner of the magazine was also one of its authors and associates. These circumstances led to the fact that the literary, political and cultural work of this authoress so far has not been the subject of more systematic scientific research and literary-historical interpretation. Hence, this study is one of the pioneering texts about this writer, magazine owner, participant of the First World War and heroine of Serbian interwar literature and culture. This paper is based on an attempt to contextualize the small opus of this authoress in the periodical surroundings in which it was printed, but also to extract it from these surroundings and place it in the framework of the (female) interwar story, and, ultimately, to show the thematic-motive, compositional and symbolic-semiotic specificity and innovation in the introduction and construction of a new type of literary protagonists.

In her book Srpski narodni vez i tekstilna ornamentika [Serbian Folk Embroidery and Textile Ornaments, 1907] Jelica Belović Bernadzikowska opened topics which marked the discourse of the modernization of Serbian culture and art (literature, painting, music) in the decade leading up to the First World War – the relationship between domestic and foreign and the relationship between tradition and modernity in contemporary cultural identity. The ideas of this author are, firstly, perceived in the context of the epoch in which they were articulated. Their alternative position regarding the dominant cultural pattern, which was promoted by ‘the pivot of the epoch’, Srpski književni glasnik [Serbian Literary Gazette], is pointed out. What is also accentuated is their kinship with authors who molded the cultural pattern, whose elements would go on to become a part of the program platforms of a generation of avant-garde authors (Dimitrije Mitrinović, Stanislav Vinaver, Stevan Hristić, Nadežda Petrović, Isidora Sekulić). The focal point of the paper is the comparative analysis of the author’s key ideas presented in the work Srpski narodni vez i tekstilna ornamentika (polycentrism, the periphery as a space of innovation, non-epic folkloric stream as the poetic support of contemporary art, a creative dialogue with tradition and the creative reception of Western European paragons, the aesthetics of suggestion, mysticism, improvisation etc.) with poetic remarks of interbellum, avant-garde authors (Stanislav Vinaver, Svetislav Stefanović, Rastko Petrović, Miloš Crnjanski, Momčilo Nastasijević). 

The ethnographic work of Jelica Belović Bernadzikowska, aimed at the development and classification of ornaments and embroidery techniques, was marked by the strong positioning of folk textile art in the context of South Slavic folklore. This scientific approach is characterized by ideas on the individuality of South Slavic embroidery, specific national spirit that permeates this kind of creative art and distinct intertwining of different types of art, especially poetry and textile ornamentation. By observing national embroidery in the context of larger folklore heritage, the author points to the significance of the creative process as a compound of tradition and individual talent, as well as its complex nature. The notion of national embroidery as the materialization of the national thoughts, feelings and traditions has contributed to the fact that the study of Jelica Belović Bernadzikowska represents a veritable treasure trove of short forms of folklore, passages, beliefs and other echoes of national spirit.

The paper points to the unique cultural project in the works of Serbian writer Jelena Dimitrijević (1862-1945), inspired by the imagery of Turkish harems and relations among women living in them. Dimitrijević distinctly oscillated between two cultural paradigms: that of the East (Orient) and that of the West (Occident). We can distinguish three stages of Dimitrijević’s “Turkish project” – stage one is represented by her works Letters from Niš on Harems 1897, or a tame and hybrid world of the Turkish-Serbian province; stage two by Letters from Salonika (1908), or the fascination with the Young Turk revolution and the cover cloth controversy; and stage three by the novel Nove (1912), which speaks about the disappointment with the westernization of Turkish women. All these works were marked by deep transgression, the transforming process that reaches deep under the surface of normative societies. Deep transgression denotes the historical and geopolitical (also geopoetical) conjuncture in which a character, a group of characters, or a represented culture as a whole, cannot be designated by any single label. This means that he or she (or they) belongs to more than one established category, which makes them outsiders in all the cultural contexts they are attached to. In most of the cases, overcoming these differences is a utopian project, breeding conflicts the plot is based on, eventually yielding difficult situations and an unhappy outcome.

Jelena Dimitrijević is better known for her literary work than for her social, patriotic and humanitarian achievements. She was a member of three women’s societies in which she actively worked. Until now, that part of Jelena Dimitrijević’s life was not fully discovered and represented a real challenge for research. Eventually, it has been revealed that she became a regular member of the Women’s Society branch in Niš for the first time in 1881 and then, after a short break, joined again in 1893, only to become an executive member in late 1894. Beginning from 1898, she became a regular member of the Belgrade Women’s Society and member of Literary Committee of the magazine Domaćica [Homemaker]. Her friendship with Ljubica Luković, also member of the Women’s Society, which began in Niš, continued in Belgrade as well. Until now, it was unknown that in 1903, Jelena became a member of the Society Knjeginja Ljubica, as shown in latest discovered data. Her work within Kolo srpskih sestara [Circle of Serbian Sisters] is slightly better known, especially her work in the magazine Vardar. During this period, she met Delfa Ivanić, the founder of Kolo srpskih sestara and so began their long-lasting friendship and collaboration in the National Women’s Alliance. Information has been found that Jelena was awarded with her first medal in 1896. She received her second medal in 1911 and the third in 1928 during the celebration of her jubilee. All of this shows that, apart from her literary work, Jelena Dimitrijević was also deeply committed to protecting the weak, children and women, as well as supporting the fight for national liberation of the Serbian people on the territory of the Ottoman Empire and Habsburg Monarchy.

In the attempt to point to the literary and historical significance of Jelena Dimitrijević’s novel Nove, this paper investigates the inconsistencies surrounding the prize allegedly awarded for this novel, which is a piece of information that has been reappearing in academic discussions for more than a century. Upon examining the texts that mention the Matica srpska Prize, the essay rejects this possibility, quoting the relevant minutes of this institution. The essay proceeds to examine a much more frequent and, in all likelihood, older piece of information – that the prize was awarded by Srpska književna zadruga [Serbian Literary Cooperative], which published the novel. The results of this study largely confirm the authors’ hypothesis that the publication itself was later incorrectly interpreted as a separate prize. The key evidence supporting the hypothesis is to be found in Istorija Srpske književne zadruge [The History of the Serbian Literary Cooperative], which states that four manuscripts arrived in response to their call for submissions, specifying that the accepted manuscript – Jelena Dimitrijević’s Nove – was printed as any other work, not as the winner of the literary competition.

Fatma Alije (1862-1936) is the first Turkish female novelist. She is the daughter of the celebrated historian, lawyer, theologian and statesman Ahmet Dževdet-Pasha who was a prototype of the conservative intellectual, but also a state reformer. Both his daughters, Fatma Alije and Emine Semije acquired significant education, the knowledge of French, philosophy, literature and art. Fatma Alije wrote five novels and several articles dedicated mostly to the issue of the position of women in the traditional Turkish society. This paper will be dedicated to her first independent novel, Razgovori (Talks), published in 1891, in which, for the first time in Turkish history, a woman wrote about the intimate world of women, first love, freedom of choice. Although she courageously put forward the question of women’s emancipation, Fatma Alije remained devoted to the traditional Islamic view of the world and the position of women. Despite the little value placed upon her work, Fatma Alije set the foundation of Turkish women’s literature. Her work represents a crucial source for the study of Turkish women’s literature which has until today produced various eminent names and works. Although the historians of Turkish literature forgot about Fatma Alije or purposely left her out for a significant amount of time, it is evident that recently this author has been receiving more and more attention in Turkey.

This paper will carry out a comparative analysis of the textual politics in the novel Ravnoteža [Balance] and the anthropological essays of Svetlana Slapšak, which the author published as independent publications or as the editorial in the feminist and anti-war journal from the nineties – ProFemina. The aim of this analysis is to examine how opposed ideological paradigms – the feminist and the nationalist one – are reflected in the field of literary production. That is, paper wishes to show how the poetics of the novel, published more than two decades after ProFemina was started as one of the newsletters of the feminist and peaceful counterpublic, corresponds with Slapšak’s editorial politics. That editorial politics rested on the belief that activism, theory and literary texts are connected by discursive strategies which affirm or negate the socio-political context. Therefore, to understand key places in the novel Ravnoteža, it was necessary to take feminist ideas presented in ProFemina into consideration; ideas which were an indispensable part of the resistance strategy against the repressive and nationalist regime of the 90s.

This paper aims to exhibit and discuss the outcomes of a major feminist project in Serbia, which lasted from 1998-2004, and resulted in two volumes, including more than 60 authors, under the title “Mapping Misogyny in Serbia: Discourses and Practices” (Vol. I, 2000 and Volume II, 2004). The project started after the defeat of civic protests in 1996-1997, when the civic movement in Serbia became largely discouraged in its efforts to overthrow Milošević, and was conceived and conducted with the purpose to empower and recover the feminist intellectual scene, which was at that time, severely disillusioned about the possibility of positive political and social change. The intellectual aim of the project was to deconstruct misogyny as a cultural practice and a discourse, in very different domains of social life, and at different social levels. The specificity of the project was that it was conceived and carried out as a ‘patchwork’ project in a post-modern sense: it was a multidisciplinary ‘patchwork’ project based on different genres, including essays and academic texts, as well as visual contributions. The nature of the project thus corresponded to the nature of the phenomena in question, misogyny, which takes many different forms. The contributions provided for theoretical steps towards a better understanding of the social phenomenology of misogyny and it created contextualized knowledge about the gender regime in Serbia.

This paper analyses gender stereotypes in textbooks for Spanish as a foreign language for adolescents and young people, which are used in secondary schools in Serbia. The corpus consists of six manuals published in the 21^st century by Spanish publishers with a long tradition in publishing teaching materials for Spanish as L2. Apart from the theoretical framework, in which we will discuss the terms gender and sex, and the importance of school and textbooks in transmitting gender ideology, gender stereotypes will be examined in the texts, photos and illustrations. The results of this qualitative research indicate that, despite the fact that the presence of gender stereotypes in textbooks is reduced to a minimum, they continue to be present. That is due to the patriarchal cultural models of the Spanish society, in which the analyzed textbooks have been created. This may have an impact on the development of gender ideology and the construction of gender identity among adolescents and young people who use analyzed manuals in the context of their own culture.

The history of Serbian art is often unjust towards artists, especially women who did not show ambition to emphasize their creation at all costs, or to make it more visible in the public eye. They most often lived in the shadows of their famous husbands, fathers or brothers. That is the case of Draginja-Draga Marić, better known as Liza Križanić, a beautiful, educated artist and the muse of many significant painters, sculptors and writers. According to Vera Jovanović, who wrote a comprehensive monograph about the author, despite her active presence in the artistic life of Belgrade, Liza Križanić appeared on the Serbian artistic scene more prominently just before World War II as an already accomplished artist. Even though she and her husband were friends with many other prominent artists of that age, Liza never took them as direct role models and tried to remain true to her artistic expression, always trying to find her own path. Aside from her own literary opus of around four hundred works, she was also the muse of many famous artists and her image can be found on some forty paintings. Some historians of Serbian art place Liza Križanić as one of the more significant representatives of poetic impressionism of the first half of the twentieth century.