Ninety years ago, “the Conflict on the Literary Left” was opened by ABC’s polemical text “Quo vadis Krleža”. The person behind the pseudonym was Bogomir Herman, who, due to his conflict with Krleža, has been remembered in history as a kind of Yugoslav Ždanov – a dogmatic that unjustifiably attacked the greatest domestic writer.

The book Herman, Quo Vadimus brings a new, more complete view of Bogomir Herman as a working-class intellectual. Despite his modest education and poor background, Hermann managed to emancipate and educate himself through his activity in the labor movement. He became a literary critic, sociologist, and economist, all of which was accompanied by his active participation in the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (KPJ). In the cultural sphere, he was one of the founders of Nolit and the first translator of Kafka’s The Trial, and he also translated a whole series of other significant literary and theoretical works. In the 1930s, Herman was branded as a “Trotskyist” by the KPJ, and in 1949 he ended up on Goli Otok as a “Stalinist.” For these reasons, his thought disappeared from collective memory.

The book therefore represents an attempt to rehabilitate Herman, through a collection of his articles, memoirs written about him, and Stefan Gužvica’s biographical study of his life and work. The book shows that he was an important thinker in the Yugoslav context, and studying his work calls not only for historical understanding but also for reflection on the present.

Dušanka Milosavljević, Milica Resanović and Stefan Gužvica will talk about the book.

The event will be photographed and recorded due to publishing on social networks, the website and other information channels for the purpose of promoting the event and activities of the Institute.