Јовановићев појам културног обрасца ; Slobodan Jovanović’s Concept of Cultural Pattern

To understand the meaning of Jovanović’s concept of cultural pattern, one should define culture as a concept that is broader than the concept of science, art or politics. Slobodan Jovanović wrote the essay “Jedan prilog za proučavanje nacionalnog karaktera” (A Contribution to the Study of the National Character) in the 1950s and left it behind, along with his memoires, to be published after his death. When one embarks on the interpretation of Jovanović’s essay, he will inevitably come across the following questions – whether cultural pattern is tied to an individual, or an entire nation, whether cultural pattern implies a paradigm that already exists, or an exemplary paradigm, set up as a task to be fulfilled (or it can be both). To understand Jovanović’s views on cultural pattern it is necessary to take into account the stands of his lifelong friend Bogdan Popović. Even though Bogdan Popović admired the French language, literature and culture, he thought very highly of the English language, culture and authors (Alexander Bain, George Eliot [Mary Ann Evans], Matthew Arnold). Branko Lazarević pointed to this fact when he described Popović as a French style Anglo-Saxson, and his literary style as English, Matthew Arnold’s one at the most. Arnold focused on the Victorian model of culture and social critique. Popović had a broader framework of the term literature under which he placed all literary papers and everything that could serve for acquiring all-round education. When literature expanded on humanism, it became obvious that literary education was actually another name for Humanities, concluded Jovanović.