{"id":20290,"date":"2022-11-18T13:29:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-18T13:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.krokodil.rs\/eng\/?p=20290"},"modified":"2025-11-25T10:43:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T10:43:08","slug":"predrag-matvejevic-1932-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.krokodil.rs\/eng\/2022\/11\/predrag-matvejevic-1932-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Predrag Matvejevi\u0107 (1932\u20132017)<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Predrag Matvejevi\u0107 was a writer, essayist, and intellectual known for his humanist and political engagement. He graduated in French language and literature in Zagreb and earned his doctorate from the Sorbonne in Paris in 1967.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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He was part of the editorial circle of Praxis<\/em>, a Zagreb-based philosophy journal that encouraged critical discussion of Yugoslav socialism and held renowned summer seminars on the island of Kor\u010dula. His involvement led to restrictions on his teaching in 1968. From 1970 onward, Matvejevi\u0107 became a public intellectual voice, publishing a series of 75 \u201copen letters\u201d (later collected as Letters from the Other Europe<\/em>), in defense of writers and dissidents across Eastern Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn these 75 letters, I stand by freedoms\u2014but not in a theoretical or abstract sense: I stand by the freedom of writers, literature, intellectuals, and the intelligentsia. From the Soviet Union to Yugoslavia, from Andrei Sinyavsky to Danilo Ki\u0161, it is necessary to start believing in literature again.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Expelled from the League of Yugoslav Communists in 1974, he became one of the region\u2019s most prominent dissident thinkers. His major work, Mediteranski brevijar<\/em> (Mediterranean: A Cultural Landscape<\/em>, 1988), blends fiction, essay, and historical reflection, reconstructing the idea of the \u201cMediterranean\u201d as a cultural and civilizational space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matvejevi\u0107 taught at the University of Zagreb until 1991, when the war and political persecution forced him to leave Croatia. He later taught at the Sorbonne (Paris III) and at La Sapienza University in Rome, where he lived until his retirement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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He remained an outspoken critic of nationalism and intolerance in post-Yugoslav societies, which led to several court cases and public controversies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matvejevi\u0107 received numerous awards, including the French Legion of Honor, Italy\u2019s Commendatore dell\u2019Ordine della Stella della Solidariet\u00e0<\/em>, the Order of Danica in Croatia, and honorary citizenship of Sarajevo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Predrag Matvejevi\u0107 bio je pisac, esejista i intelektualac poznat po svom humanisti\u010dkom i politi\u010dkom anga\u017emanu. Diplomirao je na katedri za francuski jezik i knji\u017eevnost u Zagrebu, a 1967. godine doktorirao na Sorboni u Parizu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bio je deo uredni\u010dkog kruga \u010dasopisa Praxis<\/em>, zasedaju\u0107eg filozofskog \u010dasopisa koji je promovisao kriti\u010dku diskusiju o jugoslovenskom socijalizmu i organizovao \u010duvene letnje seminare na ostrvu Kor\u010duli. Njegovo anga\u017eovanje je ograni\u010dilo predavanja koja je odr\u017eao 1968. godine. Od 1970. godine, Matvejevi\u0107 je postao javni intelektualni glas, objavljuju\u0107i seriju od 75 \u201eotvorenih pisama\u201c (kasnije prikupljenih u zbirku Pisma iz druge Evrope<\/em>), kao odbranu pisaca i disidenata \u0161irom Isto\u010dne Evrope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Izba\u010den iz Saveza jugoslovenskih komunista 1974, postao je jedan od najistaknutijih disidentskih mislioca u regionu. Njegovo najva\u017enije delo, Mediteranski brevijar<\/em> (1988), kombinuje fikciju, esej i istorijsku refleksiju, rekonstrui\u0161u\u0107i ideju \u201eMediterana\u201c kao kulturnog i civilizacijskog prostora.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matvejevi\u0107 je predavao na Sveu\u010dili\u0161tu u Zagrebu do 1991, kada su rat i politi\u010dko progonstvo naterali da napusti Hrvatsku. Kasnije je predavao na Sorboni (Pariz III) i na Univerzitetu La Sapienza u Rimu, gde je \u017eiveo do penzije.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ostao je kriti\u010dar nacionalizma i netolerancije u postjugoslovenskim sredinama, \u0161to je izazvalo brojne sudske procese i javne polemike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matvejevi\u0107 je dobio brojne nagrade, uklju\u010duju\u0107i francusku legiju \u010dasti, Italijansko odlikovanje Commendatore dell\u2019Ordine della Stella della Solidariet\u00e0<\/em>, nagradu Orden Danice<\/em> u Hrvatskoj i po\u010dasno gra\u0111anstvo Sarajeva.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Predrag Matvejevi\u0107 was a writer, essayist, and intellectual known for his humanist and political engagement. He graduated in French language and literature in Zagreb and earned his doctorate from the Sorbonne in Paris in 1967. He was part of the editorial circle of Praxis, a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[1],"tags":[355],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.krokodil.rs\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20290"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.krokodil.rs\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.krokodil.rs\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.krokodil.rs\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.krokodil.rs\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20290"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.krokodil.rs\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20290\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20578,"href":"https:\/\/www.krokodil.rs\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20290\/revisions\/20578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.krokodil.rs\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.krokodil.rs\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.krokodil.rs\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}