Pavle Popović

Pavle Popović (Serbian Cyrillic: Павле Поповић; Belgrade, 16 April 1868 – Belgrade, 4 June 1939) was a Serbian literary critic and historian, and a professor and rector at the University of Belgrade. He is the brother of Bogdan Popović, also a well-known and equally influential literary critic and university professor.

Biography

Pavle Popović was born at Belgrade on the 16th of April 1868. He studied philosophy and literature in Belgrade and Paris. He was professor of Serbian literature at the University of Belgrade for three decades. He was also the secretary of the Srpska književna zadruga (Serbian Literary Society) from 1911 to 1920, its vice-president from 1920 to 1928, and president from 1928 to 1937.

Literary Critic

Pavle Popović was French-oriented, like his brother Bogdan. Pavle complimented Jovan Skerlić's work by publishing an overview of Serbian literature (1913) that emphasized early literary history and the oral tradition that followed. His method of literary history combined archival research, philosophical polemics, and comparative perspective, discourse, inspired by other contemporary European literatures, gave a touch of elegant and witty lightness to anecdotal narratives, and soon influenced a younger generation of critics and essayists. Pavle grew into an authoritarian figure in Serbian academia but was less present in public than his brother. His literary history and his numerous specialized studies on nineteenth-century Serbian theater and other matters were considered a standard for more than 60 years, along with Skerlić's work, which was, to be sure, ideologically more attractive.

Pavle Popović corresponded with the following scholars Milivoy S. Stanoyevich, Professor of Slavonic Languages, Columbia University; George Rapall Noyes, Professor of Slavic Studies, University of California, Berkeley; John Dyneley Prince, Professor of Slavonic Languages, Columbia University; Robert William Seton-Watson (United Kingdom); Watson Kirkconnell (Dominion of Canada), and many other academics.

Work

• Pregled srpske književnosti (1909)
• Jugoslovenska književnost (1918)
• Nova srpska književnost 1 (posthumous, 1999)
• Nova srpska književnost 2 (posthumous, 2000)
• Narodna književnost (posthumous, 2000)
• Dubrovačke studije (posthumous, 2000)
• Milovan Vidaković (posthumous, 2000)
• O Njegošu (posthumous, 2000)
• Stara srpska književnost (posthumous, 2000)
• Dnevnik (posthumous, 2000)
• Književna kritika - književna istoriografija (posthumous, 2002)
• Ćirilo i Metodije (posthumous, 2004)
• Sveti Sava (posthumous, 2004)

References

• Translated and adapted from Serbian Wikipedia: Павле Поповић
• Jovan Skerlić, Istorija nove srpske književnosti (Belgrade, 1914, 1921) pages 484 and 485.
• On-line books by Pavle Popović: http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Popovic%2C%20Pavle%2C%201868-1939