Herderian romantic nationalism directly shaped Serb nation-building through language canon

Evidence

The reconstruction of Serbian mythology took place during the Serb revolt against Ottoman occupation and under the influence of the German romantic nationalism of Johann Gottfried Herder. The key figure in the Serb romantic literary movement was Vuk Karadzic (1787-1864), viewed by many Serbs as the founder of modern Serbian literary consciousness. Karadzic set out to produce a Serb collection of folk literature that would rival collections such as Herder’s Stimmen der Volker (Folk Voices).’ He collected popular songs and epics and published them in a four-volume set that became, for Serb nationalists, the canonical source and voice of the “national spirit.” Karadzic succeeded in forming a linguistic canon based upon certain dialects, which he deemed linguistically and ethnically pure of foreign contamination. In his view, all speakers of the South Slavic dialects, whether Catholic, Muslim, or Orthodox, were considered Serbs; Serb nationality was a function of the language. — Michael A. Sells, The Bridge Betrayed, 135

Categorization

• XREF: Parallels how Herderian linguistic nationalism built other 19th-century national identities; resonates with Anderson’s imagined communities.