Poetry of existence: Attitudes toward figures of authority in the poetry collections of Vladislav Petković Dis

Abstract

In the present study, we aim to examine the poetics of Vladislav Petković Dis within the framework of existentialism - one of the central philosophies of the postwar avant-garde era. Dis's anticipatory genius will be interpreted through his two poetry collections (Drowned Souls; We Are Waiting for the Tsar), based on the pronounced indications of an existentialist spiritual condition observed in them. We have noted that in many of Dis's verses, although often subtly, there is a discernible distrust and a renunciation of any form of support - transcendent or immanent - a stance that aligns with one of the key tenets of the individualist philosophy of existence. Accordingly, in the first collection (Drowned Souls), the poet's distancing from the Absolute will be analyzed, whereas in We Are Waiting for the Tsar, his ironic attitude toward the figure of the ruler (a profane authority) will be explored. The goal of this research, beyond providing further evidence of the compatibility of Dis's poetry with an existentialist (Sartrean-Camusian) engagement with the postwar world and its disrupted values, is to uncover the impulses of early avant-garde poetry that entered our literary landscape under the name of Vladislav Petković.