Dežman Milivoj: Južnoslavensko pitanje

Milivoj Dežman (Ivanov): South Slavic Question

DEŽMAN, Milivoj, literary critic, writer, journalist and doctor (Zagreb, August 30, 1873 — Zagreb, June 24, 1940). Son of Ivan, doctor and writer. He finished high school in Zagreb in 1891, studied medicine in Vienna and Prague in 1891–97. At first, he was a doctor at the Hospital of the Merciful Brothers in Zagreb, and as a specialist in lung diseases, he was one of the founders and the manager of Brestovac, a tuberculosis treatment center in Sljemen, near Zagreb, 1908–20. He was head of the department for social policy in the Provincial Government in 1920, head of the Ministry of Social Policy, member of the directorate from 1921, and 1926–34. director of the graphic and publishing institute "Tipography". As a cultural and literary worker, he started the Croatian modern literary magazine Mladost in Vienna in 1898, and then was an editor and contributor to the most important modernist magazines Hrvatski Salona (1898) and Života (1900-01); 1903 with K. Š. Gjalski edited the last year of Vienca. As an editor (1906–14) and a long-time associate of Obzor, he contributed to the high professional level of the paper. Year In 1900, he was one of the founders of the Society of Croatian Writers in Zagreb. For several years between the wars, he was the president of the Yugoslav Journalist Association, the president of the Society of Croatian Writers and a member of the PEN club. — His literary activity began with criticism and writing of modernist programs; appeared in 1888/89. in the high school almanac Domovina with a poem, a line and an article (The latest Croatian novels and novellas); he published his first analytical text, On Croatian literary circumstances, in the Prague Hrvatska misla in 1897. As one of the pioneers of criticism in the modern period, he published many literary and theatrical representations, as well as original novellas and plays in Vienc, Nada, Agramer Tagblatt, Obzor, Mladosta, Samvremenik, Život, Ljetopis JAZ, etc. He mostly wrote under the pseudonym Ivanov, and sometimes under different codes. He was an ideologue of the "young", wrote programs in which he opposed the traditionalists in literature, holding that writers must express their individuality and fight for creative freedom. With his cartooning (Against the Current), he tried to realize his own theoretical ideas in literature, first of all to know feelings. He also wrote dramatic texts imbued with the idea of ​​modern individualism; the briefcase Svrsetak was shown in Zagreb in 1897, and the legend from Bosnian history Princess Jelena in 1901. In the same year, he also dramatized Šeno's Zlatarovo zlato. From 1906, when he mostly stopped literary activity, he was engaged in journalism. He represented the political ideas of J. J. Strossmayer; participated in the work of the National Council in 1918 and together with I. Lorković founded the Croatian Community. After the introduction of the 6 September dictatorship, he drafted the constitution and sent memoranda (the most important from 1934) against the dictatorial regime. He published political articles and speeches in Mokret, Hrvatska misla, Obzor, Nova Europa, Hrvata, Jutarnji list, Vecera, Svijet, Samouprava, etc. Two major debates stand out: The South Slavic question and Southern Serbia and Macedonia (Obzor 1918 and 1926). D. was also active in the class organization of journalists, and he initiated the construction of the Journalists' House. He systematically published professional and popular medical articles, especially on the treatment and prevention of dry mouth, in Liečnički viestnik, Ars therapeutici and in newspapers and brochures. D. is a dramatic character in N. Škrabe and A. Dedić's musical Lady Šram, premiered in Zagreb in 1991, inspired by Dežman's sentimental relationship with Zagreb actress Ljerka Šram.