Deretic Jovan | Essential - 2025 |

The turning point in Dučić’s artistic trajectory occurred around the turn of the 20th century. As he traveled and studied, particularly his exposure to French Symbolism and Parnassianism, he grew dissatisfied with the sentimentalism and rhetoric of traditional Serbian Romanticism. He found the old forms too restrictive, the emotions too explicit, and the language too ornamental.

Deretic Jovan passed away in Belgrade on October 23, 2006, at the age of 81. His death marked the end of an era—the last great systematizer of Serbian literary history. He left behind over thirty books and four hundred academic papers. deretic jovan