Initiation and initiative : an exploration of the life and ideas of Dimitrije Mitrinović

THE YOUNG BOSNIAN 13

It seems fairly clear that even if Mitrinovic had some idea of his friend’s plans, he disapproved of such individual violent acts. Along with perhaps the majority of the Young Bosnian movement he believed that the overthrow of the Hapsburg empire must be accompanied by a moral and cultural revival of society and the development of a new Yugoslav culture. As part of this anticipated renaissance, special attention was paid to the role of the arts in general and literature in particular. The literary journal Bosanska Vila played a crucial part in this development.

Founded in 1885 Bosanska Vila had been primarily devoted, in its early years, to the collection of folklore, customs and poems.!! According to Dedyer, when Mitrinovic was in Sarajevo in 1907 he became the review’s “real editor” transforming Bosanska Vila “into a mouthpiece of modernism.”!” His involvement with the magazine had begun in 1905, when he was still a student at Mostar, with the publication of one of his poems. This was followed by other poems, and in 1907 by an article on “Our Literary Work,” and a series of articles in 1908 including “Democratization of Science and Philosophy,” “The National Ground and Modernity,” and “The Philosopher Marcus Aurelius.” During this period, according to Petrovic:

Mitrinovic gave Bosanska Vila an enormous impulse by shaking it out of a romantic verbiose nationalism of fiery words and gave it a new direction, an understanding of nationalism that was modern and progressive. It thus became the advance guard of the younger generation... . The powerful influence of Bosanska Vila which grew with the development of the Serbian intelligentsia in Bosnia was such that more than any other Serbian publication on that territory, it represented the expression of the spiritual life of the time. Although Mitrinovi¢ brought a new impulse to it, he too, like all the others who worked for it, was educated under its influence, and came from the spiritual ambience which it had created.!3

The Young Bosnians considered the spiritual and moral plight of the people as important as their material deprivation under the Hapsburgs’ rule. They believed that the Austro-Hungarians were consciously promoting the moral corruption of their nation. The introduction of special military brothels to Bosnia and Hercegovina by the Hapsburg authorities was seen as an integral part of this policy. They were filled with disgust by what they viewed as the decadence of the older generation, their materialism, conservatism and apparent lack of nationalist feeling. This gulf between the generations was expressed by Mitrinovi¢ when, in 1911, he criticised the editorial board of the Serbian Literary Herald for not included amongst their members: