Another Serbia? Often, in recent times, in Montenegro, from many official places, the term "Other Serbia" is mentioned about their desirable Serbia. I heard at least two mention Radomir Konstantinović and his book Palanka Philosophy.
The story of that book is interesting. It was first read on the famous Third Program of Radio Belgrade, way back in 1969. I was told that it was listened to closely, but there were also those who couldn't wait for the Third Program magazine to appear in print. (I guess they preferred to READ rather than LISTEN). It was later published in many editions. I had one with a yellow cover. It was obligatory to wear it under your arm as a sign that you belong to some intellectual elite (youthful delusions). Once Tin and Branko Miljković, and then Konstatinović. Fascinating book. Especially considering the context in which it appeared. Of course, the book remained and the contexts changed. Many pub crawls started with the sentence - Our experience is palanquin. As an ignorant student in the warm reading room of the National Library, I began to read it carefully.
In the beginning it goes great, along with some of his text, and then difficulties arise. Convoluted, incomprehensible, with lengthy explanations. I almost broke the promise I made to myself for all the readings - to read the book you started to the end, no matter what it was. And I read it. What happened in my brain ask god?
Later, strange things happen. The book is read, mentioned, but something does not match my experience. Especially after returning to Montenegro.
I think - I was young, ignorant and didn't understand much. I approached even more detailed reading. And then I realized the simple truth - that book that they mention with such ease they haven't read at all. Read the first ten pages and period. And then flaunting the difference between PALANAC and WORLD. And no one should wonder if there is anything controversial in the opinion of the GREAT Konstatinović, something that can be argued with. No. Just accepting it without question, like the Bible. The derogatory titles Father of the Second Serbia are created, and where there is a father, there is also a mother (Latinka Perović, I just don't know what she has to do with Konstatinović from Filosofija palanka). Recently, in the Montenegrin public space, the book has been mentioned as cult. (What would Konstatinović himself think when he heard those qualifications, as a radically critical intellectual. I had to use this obvious pleonasm, so whoever wants to blame me). And the other says - I would cooperate only with that Serbia whose Father is Radomir Konstatinović.
Let's make a small thought experiment - what would R. Konstatinović think about those who wholeheartedly defend a, by modern standards, hybrid system, which in translation would mean - autocratic. Or about outspoken nationalists who hide their nationalism by criticizing the other. Of course, without many of his mental stunts, if they were active in Serbia, Konstantinović would have classified them in the First Serbia, and that as feathered, and not at all in the Second, which they obviously would have wanted very carefully. Or did they get attached to that problematic Konstatinović sentence - Tito is a world phenomenon compared to the palanquin we lived in. Contradiction. (I will not deal with this in detail because this text was written only incidentally, along with a larger text in an attempt to dispute the thesis that Broz was Worldly compared to the Palanic nationalists).
It would be important for these big fans of RK to read a statement by Konstantinović's wife in which she says that the resigned Konstatinović told her before the end of his life - I am in a dispute with Serbia because of Serbian nationalism, but I am also in a dispute with all the nationalisms in the environment that are flourished as bad interpretations of his thought, unread by the way. That message is simple - if you are an "I" from an intellectual, then you should focus on your nationalism first, and then focus on others.
Those great admirers of the World Spirit, in contrast to the palanquins, had the opportunity to show themselves countless times. But if the master is from Palanca, and he is critical of the nation that Konstatinović was also critical of, there are reasons for abolition. One example is significant (as B. Brković would say). If anyone filmed Konstantinović's book, it was Živko Nikolić, especially in his documentaries. Let's remember his Throat. Getting out of that limited circle does not mean getting out of the palanquin. Because, as Konstatinović emphasizes, the palanquin is not in the place, but in the head, in the spirit. Palanka is not a geographical problem, but a problem of the spirit. And one big official in C. Gora publicly said that Živko Nikolić was the biggest brute of Montenegro. And he remained alive, without criticism and with a healthy right hand. Why is that hand important? Because God forbid that he hurt him in some kind of pounding on the table when he gives such fiery speeches against "Bruka of Živko Nikolić" so that a little later she stuffs 97500 monetary units into the narrow inner pocket of Versaće's suit. (When I saw that scene, I thought that he didn't make a ribbon similar to the one made by Raskolnikov in order to imperceptibly hide the ax to kill the unfortunate greengrocer because of his world-historical role).
This is not the place to emphasize the great role of R. Konstantinović in the later intellectual life of Belgrade and the whole of Yugoslavia. His correspondence with the writer Godot (he didn't see democracy and freedom, and he wouldn't even if he were alive today). Formation of the Belgrade Circle. About polemical books about his work and its reception - e.g. Milo Lompar and Milorad Belančić (from opposite positions). Well, a new expression such as autochauvinism and so on. And so on.
And at the end, one quirk - when some Montenegrin executives (they interfered in everything) proposed the jury for awarding the Njegoš Award to Radomir Konstantinović, they were flatly rejected by the president of the jury (Radonja Vešović) - Konstantinović cannot receive the Njegoš Award because he is a great Serbian nationalist (source Cvjetičanin – Chronicle. Konstatinović). And because of things like this, we got the cute name - wonderland.
Perhaps, thinking of ourselves and others, we should return to Konstatinović and the literature written about him in order to approach that work as Konstantinović's methodological principle was - radically critical, which, I'm sure, would make the book more important. And let's avoid the epigones who superficially, ignorantly and tendentiously use Konstantinović for a plane ticket, a comfortable hotel and "white" shark meat, courting the regime from whose table they buy crumbs.
Many are doing violence against the thought of R. Konstatinović with political benefit in mind. And politics often manifested itself in these areas as violence. Let's remember M. Belančić: "Violence is the anti-object of opinion. In his vicinity, thinking necessarily becomes impossible. Or, at least, it loses its balance. Thought without "historical distance", too immersed in breakneck events, becomes biased, obsessed with the blows and counter-blows of violence. For a philosopher, violence is the source of the worst opinion... That's why a philosopher needs "peace of mind". And "forgetting violence".
Bonus video:
