Walt Whitman and Aleksandar Ristović

Avramović, Marko (2022) Walt Whitman and Aleksandar Ristović. TIES / Revue de littérature Textes, Images et Sons: Speaking in Tongues: Celebrating Walt Whitman in Translation (7). pp. 50-67. ISSN 2729-1596

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Abstract

This paper attempts to describe how Walt Whitman’s poetry influenced one of the most important Serbian poets of the second half of the twentieth century, Aleksandar Ristović (1933–1994). Whitman’s presence in this Serbian author’s poetry can be traced starting from his fourth poetry collection, Weddings [Venčanja] (1966) where the character of the American bard also appears for the first time. Ristović’s poetry written after that period includes several poems depicting or mentioning Whitman. Our paper focuses particularly on the poem “For Two and Two” [“Za dva i dva”], where Ristović addresses Walt Whitman directly. He did not merely invoke Whitman in his verse, but also his images and texts were inspired by the American poet’s images and poems. This paper points out some similar images in Whitman’s and Ristović’s poetry, as well as several works where the Serbian poet involves specific poems by Whitman. We conclude with the statement that both poets favoured certain techniques, such as the catalogue and the direct address, and that Ristović possibly benefited from his experience of Whitman’s poetry.

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