Papers by Irena Plaović
Свети Сава и Доментијан, 2024
One of the greatest Serbian authors of all times, Hieromonk Domentian, has been widely considered... more One of the greatest Serbian authors of all times, Hieromonk Domentian, has been widely considered the most „rhetorical“ of old Serbian hagiographers. This notion has become, without thorough analysis, a commonplace of medieval studies. In this article, we try to explain what it means to be a „rhetorical“ hagiographer: which literary features that Domentian uses can be treated as rhetorical. In order to do so, we examine two typical genres of epideictic rhetoric that make part of the Vita of Saint Sava: an encomium and an epistle. Both are undoubtedly inherited from the tradition of rhetorical progymnasmata, which were of paramount importance for Byzantine literary education, and which, mainly through the translations of patristic literature, indirectly, but thoroughly, influenced Serbian medieval literature as well.
Studia Litteraria Serdicensia, III, 5, 2023
Резиме. У чланку се тумаче поједине особине књижевног стваралаштва Григорија Цамблака, са станови... more Резиме. У чланку се тумаче поједине особине књижевног стваралаштва Григорија Цамблака, са становишта реторичке критике. Полазећи од одабраних појмова савремене теорије реторике, интерпретирамо одломке тематски и жанровски различитих Цамблакових састава, показујући на тај начин значајне особине његове изразито реторичне поетике.
This article aims at interpreting important features of various literary works by Gregory Tsamblak, from the point of view of rhetorical criticism. Informed by contemporary theories of rhetoric, our interpretation of the selected fragments of thematically and generically diverse Tsamblak’s works indicates the key characteristics of his immensely “rhetorical” poetics.
Византијско-словенска чтенија VI, 2023
Апстракт: У овом се чланку расправља о жанру похвалног слова у српском средњем веку, са становишт... more Апстракт: У овом се чланку расправља о жанру похвалног слова у српском средњем веку, са становишта његове реторичке (пред)историје, његовога развоја и основних особина његове поетике, како као самосталног књижевног облика, тако и као микро-жанра у оквиру хагиографије. Проблем се покушава сагледати из перспективе реторичке теорије и историје, па се ове књижевне форме третирају не само као књижевни, него и као говорни жанрови.
WHAT WE TALK ABOUT WHEN WE TALK ABOUT SPEECHES
IN THE MIDDLE AGES
This article discusses Serbian medieval encomia, as a fundamental part of the rhetorical heritage of Old Slavic literature. We examine the genre of encomium, exploring different definitions medievalists have created, and analyzing the context of its pre-history, its progress and its poetics. We try to look into the problem from the perspective of rhetorical theory, treating
encomia not only as a literary, but as a speech genre as well.
Научни састанак слависта у Вукове дане 51/2, 2022
This paper aims at the theoretical consideration of the status of medieval literature in Serbian ... more This paper aims at the theoretical consideration of the status of medieval literature in Serbian literary histories, with the concept of literariness in mind, seen both as a theoretical notion and as a criterion used by a literary historian. Seeking to answer the question: what is literary in our medieval
literature?, we examine the ways in which this problem has been treated throughout Serbian cultural history, with special attention given to different literary histories written during the 20th century by most relevant authors, such as the following: Stojan Novaković, Pavle Popović, Jovan Skerlić and Jovan Deretić. Furthermore, we attempt to analyze the methodological implications of various approaches to the oldest texts of Serbian literature, as well as the impact they have made on our contemporary perception(s) of the medieval tradition(s). The questions of primary interest are 1) how diverse definitions of literariness, which mainly fall into two radically opposed groups, the so-called essentialism and conventionalism, can be used to look at our pre-modern literary worlds and 2) how our anachronistic, theory-laden way of thinking about medieval literature, which shaped our expectations and tastes, forced the 20th century historians to polarize their conception of Serbian literature along the lines of the “old” and the “new” traditions, burdening it with what we call the complex of discontinuity.
Serbian Studies, 2021
Ivan V. Lalić’s poem “Voyage philosophique” from his collection Script is usually read as a trave... more Ivan V. Lalić’s poem “Voyage philosophique” from his collection Script is usually read as a travelogue, but in this work it will be read as criticism of the Enlightenment programme, wherein the destination of “Holland” would, in fact, be a metaphor for this spiritual movement. Lalić’s “lyrical criticism” is compared with its contemporaneous postmodern criticisms of the Enlightenment and is placed within the context of his poetics as a testimony of the modern search for some other tradition, older than the Enlightenment, which has ‘severed’ it radically. It is this tradition that Lalić approaches truly poetically in his last poetic expression—the collection Four Canons. This collection fully reveals the concept of neomedievalism, the New Middle Ages. This work examines the relation between an implicit deviation from the Enlightenment and an explicit step into the tradition of
neomedievalism.
Црквене студије, 2021
У овом раду настојимо да испратимо разна читања Србљака који је изашао пре тачно педесет година у... more У овом раду настојимо да испратимо разна читања Србљака који је изашао пре тачно педесет година у издању Српске књижевне задруге. Да бисмо разумели поједине савремене критизерске осврте на ово издање, вратили смо се раним критикама, са којима настављамо дискусију о важним питањима наше медиевистике, од издавања химнографских текстова до поетике старе српске књижевности. Основна намера нашег прилога је преиспитивање рецепције средњовековне књижевности у српској књижевној критици, на примеру ове темељне књиге наше старе црквене поезије, о којој су изречени разни судови и која не престаје да изазива опречне реакције ни пола века касније.
This paper aims to understand, reevaluate and contextualize the reception of the Srbljak, a collection of Serbian medieval church poetry, published by Srpska književna zadruga and edited by Đorđe Trifunović and Dimitrije Bogdanović in 1970. We seek to examine the impact of this book, which remains one of the greatest publications of Serbian medieval literary studies and continues, fifty years later, to provoke criticism on different levels. While the early critique by Svetozar Petrović was said to be a philological one, concerning mainly the problems of text edition, recent criticism is openly political. This allows us to pose a fundamental question of how this issue got highly politcized and what the real nature of the early critiques from the '70s was; their excessively negative response to the publication of Srbljak seems to show us some sensitive aspects of the general relation to Serbian medieval legacy in former Yugoslavia.
Византијско-словенска чтенија II, 2019
Мада је реторика српског средњег века свој израз превасходно
нашла у похвалним словима, различити... more Мада је реторика српског средњег века свој израз превасходно
нашла у похвалним словима, различити мањи реторички облици расути су по свим жанровима наше старе књижевности. У Житију краљице Јелене Данила Пећког обраћања ове јунакиње, која су у неким случајевима прави мали говори, играју кључну улогу у обликовању њеног лика, а ову хагиографију чине специфичном и на структурном плану.
The Life of Queen Jelena by archbishop Danilo II is considered the first serbian haghiography of a female saint, as well as the first work in serbian literary tradition to have a woman protagonist. In this article we aim to explore the ways in which the speeches of the queen constitute her character and partake in the construction of the Life, since they make up the greatest part of the text. Her addresses to deacons, priests and lords, as well as moral instructions to her two sons; seven prayers, two laments and various epsistles, make the variety of rhetorical sub-genres, which contribute to the specific composition of the Life, quite
different from the usual scheme of serbian ruler haghiographies.
Књижевна историја, 2018
This paper deals with the laments of princess Milica as very important rhetorical subgenres prese... more This paper deals with the laments of princess Milica as very important rhetorical subgenres present in the orations honouring prince Lazar and the Battle of Kosovo by the unknown monk from the Ravanica monastery, Danilo of Banya and Andonius Raphail. It aims at explaining the rhetorical strategies used by the princess in order to celebrate prince Lazar as the new Christian martyr. These strategies consist of the use of different common places (topoi) and ancient rhetorical arguments, which, via Byzantine literary models, made a strong impact on the medieval Serbian literature.
Годишњак Катедре за српску књижевност са јужнословенским књижевностима, 2018
Овај чланак је посвећен последњој књизи Ивана В. Лалића-Четири канона-и њеним херменеутичким поте... more Овај чланак је посвећен последњој књизи Ивана В. Лалића-Четири канона-и њеним херменеутичким потенцијалима и остварењима, у кон-тексту средњовековног канона и хајдегеровско-гадамеровских постулата филозофске херменеутике. Основна претпоставка је могућност песничког дела да проговори као тумачење, успостављајући изнова канонски текст средњовековља као песму. Аутор Четири канона показује се као врстан херменеута, преводилац и са-стваралац, који доводи стару српску поезију до обновљеног постојања, пишући истовремено канонско дело нове српске поезије.
Култура, 158, 2018
Reaching out to distant Japanese culture, in an attempt to bring it into
correlation with Serbian... more Reaching out to distant Japanese culture, in an attempt to bring it into
correlation with Serbian medieval tradition, a comparison is made of
The Tale of Saigyo – a story by an unknown author about one of the
legendary poets of the ancient Japanese literature from the 13th century,
with several motifs from our haghiographies by Domentian and
Theodosios. The poet-monk Saigyo is compared with Saint Sava, as a
writer, as well as with Peter of Korisha, as an ascete. Special attention is
paid to the motif of departure from this world, which is simultaneously
an entry into the world of literary creation, as the writer-monk also
appears as a literary character in later writings.
Годишњак Катедре за српску књижевност са јужнословенским књижевностима за школску 2016/17. годину, година XII
This paper discusses the rhetorics of Serbian medieval literature, the rhetorical heritages of By... more This paper discusses the rhetorics of Serbian medieval literature, the rhetorical heritages of Byzantium and the Antiquity, as well as specific rhetorical figures - topoi, composition, stylistic figures, ekphrasis - that can be identified in the most significant works in the classic rhetorical genres of oration and encomiums. Those are the works of Theodosius of Hilandar, Danilo of Banya, Andonius Raphail, Dimitrii Kantakuzin, and Anonymous of Smederevo. The present paper aims to show the ways in which these works are rhetorically shaped, which patterns they inherit from Byzantine and Antique rhetoric, and in what ways they are employed in the works of Serbian medieval authors.
Зборник Матице српске за књижевност и језик, 2017
Мср Ире на А. Пла о вић СЛАТ КА И СТВАР И ИМЕ: РЕ ТО РИЧ КА ПРИ РО ДА СЛО ВА О СВЕ ТОМ КНЕ ЗУ ЛА ... more Мср Ире на А. Пла о вић СЛАТ КА И СТВАР И ИМЕ: РЕ ТО РИЧ КА ПРИ РО ДА СЛО ВА О СВЕ ТОМ КНЕ ЗУ ЛА ЗА РУ НЕ ПО ЗНА ТОГ РА ВА НИ ЧА НИ НА
Arheografski prilozi, 2016
Book Reviews by Irena Plaović
Књижевна историја, год. 53, бр. 175, 2021
Приказ књиге Јаниса Какридиса ,,Аргументација код православних Словена у средњем веку", Ниш, Међу... more Приказ књиге Јаниса Какридиса ,,Аргументација код православних Словена у средњем веку", Ниш, Међународни центар за православне студије, Центар за византијско-словенске студије, 2019.
Зборник Матице српске за књижевност и језик, 2017
СТРАСТ И МУ ДРОСТ (Ани ца Са вић Ре бац. Дух хе лен ства. Ми ло Лом пар и Ири на Де ре тић (прир.).
Књижевна историја, 2016
У издању Далматинског друштва историјске отаџбине из Рима, чији је Санте Грачоти, еминентни слави... more У издању Далматинског друштва историјске отаџбине из Рима, чији је Санте Грачоти, еминентни слависта и историчар културе, почасни председник, изашла је 2014. године књига Далмација и Јадран -о "венецијанским" ходочасницима у Свету земљу. Књига се састоји из два дела -студије и приређених и преведених текстова. Студија, која чини први и обимом мањи део (до 200. стране) књиге, подељена је на два одељка, од којих се први тиче писаца ходочасника (I pellegrini scrittori), а други самог путовања (Il viaggio). Приређени текстови обухватају записе педесет три различита ходочасника -из Италије, Шпаније, Француске, германских земаља, Енглеске, Чешке и Пољске -из периода од 1322. до 1598. године. Сви су преведени на савремени италијански језик, а велики допринос разумевању немачких текстова дао је германиста и медиевиста Лоренцо Лоци Гало, чији се лингвистички апендикс налази на крају књиге, након топографског прилога који се састоји из списка локалитета на јадранско-јонском путу ходочасника, илустрација и географских карата.
Talks by Irena Plaović
Izlaganje je održano 2019. godine u okviru međunarodne radionice Rethinking the impact of the lib... more Izlaganje je održano 2019. godine u okviru međunarodne radionice Rethinking the impact of the liberal arts (Retorika: ponovno promišljanje uticaja humanistike) u organizaciji Instituta za slavistiku Univerziteta u Kelnu, Instituta za filozofiju i društvenu teoriju iz Beograda i Centra za etiku, pravo i primenjenju filozofiju iz Beograda.
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Papers by Irena Plaović
This article aims at interpreting important features of various literary works by Gregory Tsamblak, from the point of view of rhetorical criticism. Informed by contemporary theories of rhetoric, our interpretation of the selected fragments of thematically and generically diverse Tsamblak’s works indicates the key characteristics of his immensely “rhetorical” poetics.
WHAT WE TALK ABOUT WHEN WE TALK ABOUT SPEECHES
IN THE MIDDLE AGES
This article discusses Serbian medieval encomia, as a fundamental part of the rhetorical heritage of Old Slavic literature. We examine the genre of encomium, exploring different definitions medievalists have created, and analyzing the context of its pre-history, its progress and its poetics. We try to look into the problem from the perspective of rhetorical theory, treating
encomia not only as a literary, but as a speech genre as well.
literature?, we examine the ways in which this problem has been treated throughout Serbian cultural history, with special attention given to different literary histories written during the 20th century by most relevant authors, such as the following: Stojan Novaković, Pavle Popović, Jovan Skerlić and Jovan Deretić. Furthermore, we attempt to analyze the methodological implications of various approaches to the oldest texts of Serbian literature, as well as the impact they have made on our contemporary perception(s) of the medieval tradition(s). The questions of primary interest are 1) how diverse definitions of literariness, which mainly fall into two radically opposed groups, the so-called essentialism and conventionalism, can be used to look at our pre-modern literary worlds and 2) how our anachronistic, theory-laden way of thinking about medieval literature, which shaped our expectations and tastes, forced the 20th century historians to polarize their conception of Serbian literature along the lines of the “old” and the “new” traditions, burdening it with what we call the complex of discontinuity.
neomedievalism.
This paper aims to understand, reevaluate and contextualize the reception of the Srbljak, a collection of Serbian medieval church poetry, published by Srpska književna zadruga and edited by Đorđe Trifunović and Dimitrije Bogdanović in 1970. We seek to examine the impact of this book, which remains one of the greatest publications of Serbian medieval literary studies and continues, fifty years later, to provoke criticism on different levels. While the early critique by Svetozar Petrović was said to be a philological one, concerning mainly the problems of text edition, recent criticism is openly political. This allows us to pose a fundamental question of how this issue got highly politcized and what the real nature of the early critiques from the '70s was; their excessively negative response to the publication of Srbljak seems to show us some sensitive aspects of the general relation to Serbian medieval legacy in former Yugoslavia.
нашла у похвалним словима, различити мањи реторички облици расути су по свим жанровима наше старе књижевности. У Житију краљице Јелене Данила Пећког обраћања ове јунакиње, која су у неким случајевима прави мали говори, играју кључну улогу у обликовању њеног лика, а ову хагиографију чине специфичном и на структурном плану.
The Life of Queen Jelena by archbishop Danilo II is considered the first serbian haghiography of a female saint, as well as the first work in serbian literary tradition to have a woman protagonist. In this article we aim to explore the ways in which the speeches of the queen constitute her character and partake in the construction of the Life, since they make up the greatest part of the text. Her addresses to deacons, priests and lords, as well as moral instructions to her two sons; seven prayers, two laments and various epsistles, make the variety of rhetorical sub-genres, which contribute to the specific composition of the Life, quite
different from the usual scheme of serbian ruler haghiographies.
correlation with Serbian medieval tradition, a comparison is made of
The Tale of Saigyo – a story by an unknown author about one of the
legendary poets of the ancient Japanese literature from the 13th century,
with several motifs from our haghiographies by Domentian and
Theodosios. The poet-monk Saigyo is compared with Saint Sava, as a
writer, as well as with Peter of Korisha, as an ascete. Special attention is
paid to the motif of departure from this world, which is simultaneously
an entry into the world of literary creation, as the writer-monk also
appears as a literary character in later writings.
Book Reviews by Irena Plaović
Talks by Irena Plaović
This article aims at interpreting important features of various literary works by Gregory Tsamblak, from the point of view of rhetorical criticism. Informed by contemporary theories of rhetoric, our interpretation of the selected fragments of thematically and generically diverse Tsamblak’s works indicates the key characteristics of his immensely “rhetorical” poetics.
WHAT WE TALK ABOUT WHEN WE TALK ABOUT SPEECHES
IN THE MIDDLE AGES
This article discusses Serbian medieval encomia, as a fundamental part of the rhetorical heritage of Old Slavic literature. We examine the genre of encomium, exploring different definitions medievalists have created, and analyzing the context of its pre-history, its progress and its poetics. We try to look into the problem from the perspective of rhetorical theory, treating
encomia not only as a literary, but as a speech genre as well.
literature?, we examine the ways in which this problem has been treated throughout Serbian cultural history, with special attention given to different literary histories written during the 20th century by most relevant authors, such as the following: Stojan Novaković, Pavle Popović, Jovan Skerlić and Jovan Deretić. Furthermore, we attempt to analyze the methodological implications of various approaches to the oldest texts of Serbian literature, as well as the impact they have made on our contemporary perception(s) of the medieval tradition(s). The questions of primary interest are 1) how diverse definitions of literariness, which mainly fall into two radically opposed groups, the so-called essentialism and conventionalism, can be used to look at our pre-modern literary worlds and 2) how our anachronistic, theory-laden way of thinking about medieval literature, which shaped our expectations and tastes, forced the 20th century historians to polarize their conception of Serbian literature along the lines of the “old” and the “new” traditions, burdening it with what we call the complex of discontinuity.
neomedievalism.
This paper aims to understand, reevaluate and contextualize the reception of the Srbljak, a collection of Serbian medieval church poetry, published by Srpska književna zadruga and edited by Đorđe Trifunović and Dimitrije Bogdanović in 1970. We seek to examine the impact of this book, which remains one of the greatest publications of Serbian medieval literary studies and continues, fifty years later, to provoke criticism on different levels. While the early critique by Svetozar Petrović was said to be a philological one, concerning mainly the problems of text edition, recent criticism is openly political. This allows us to pose a fundamental question of how this issue got highly politcized and what the real nature of the early critiques from the '70s was; their excessively negative response to the publication of Srbljak seems to show us some sensitive aspects of the general relation to Serbian medieval legacy in former Yugoslavia.
нашла у похвалним словима, различити мањи реторички облици расути су по свим жанровима наше старе књижевности. У Житију краљице Јелене Данила Пећког обраћања ове јунакиње, која су у неким случајевима прави мали говори, играју кључну улогу у обликовању њеног лика, а ову хагиографију чине специфичном и на структурном плану.
The Life of Queen Jelena by archbishop Danilo II is considered the first serbian haghiography of a female saint, as well as the first work in serbian literary tradition to have a woman protagonist. In this article we aim to explore the ways in which the speeches of the queen constitute her character and partake in the construction of the Life, since they make up the greatest part of the text. Her addresses to deacons, priests and lords, as well as moral instructions to her two sons; seven prayers, two laments and various epsistles, make the variety of rhetorical sub-genres, which contribute to the specific composition of the Life, quite
different from the usual scheme of serbian ruler haghiographies.
correlation with Serbian medieval tradition, a comparison is made of
The Tale of Saigyo – a story by an unknown author about one of the
legendary poets of the ancient Japanese literature from the 13th century,
with several motifs from our haghiographies by Domentian and
Theodosios. The poet-monk Saigyo is compared with Saint Sava, as a
writer, as well as with Peter of Korisha, as an ascete. Special attention is
paid to the motif of departure from this world, which is simultaneously
an entry into the world of literary creation, as the writer-monk also
appears as a literary character in later writings.