LETOPIS MATICE SRPSKE DURING THE EDITORSHIP OF BOŠKO IVKOV (1980–1991)

• Bojan Samson

  Matica Srpska Library

Letopis Matice srpske (Matica Srpska Chronicle) celebrated its two-century anniversary at the end of 2024. To mark this occasion, several significant publications were published. One is the collection of papers Dva veka Letopisa Matice srpske (Two Centuries of Matica Srpska Chronicle), which approaches the phenomenon of this significant journal from various angles. Another is Letopis Matice srpske: Urednički programi (Matica Srpska Chronicle: Editorial Programmes), which examines the numerous editorial programmes throughout the journal’s history. In one of the texts, “Programski smer Letopisa Matice srpske” (Programme Direction of the Matica Srpska Chronicle) (1980), Boško Ivkov, editor of Letopis from 1980 to 1991, sets out the basic goals and ideas that guided him during his editorial mandate. By establishing these guidelines, Ivkov largely distanced himself from Letopis as it was traditionally conceived: a conservative journal, cautious of innovations, and following the well-trodden paths of the mainstream of Serbian literature. This paper considers the consistency with which this editor created a new and different Letopis from the one to which the reading public had been accustomed. Analysis of the basic characteristics of Ivkov’s Letopis demonstrates the extent to which this journal followed domestic and foreign literary and theoretical trends and
its significance for the development of Serbian literary periodicals during the 1980s. In addition to analysis of the editorial programme and published content, the paper also employs the testimony of Vladimir Kopicl, a long-time member of Ivkov’s editorial board, whose recollections are examined through an interview.

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