The 2023 NASSS Book Prize has been awarded to Aleksandar Bošković and Steven Teref for their co-edited volume Zenithism (1921–1927): A Yugoslav Avant-Garde Anthology (Academic Studies Press, 2023). The NASSS Book Prize is awarded annually to distinguished authors of books published in English on aspects of Serbian social and cultural history.
The anthology traces zenithism from its birth in 1921, through three main stages of development, to its end in 1927. This monumental volume, organized in discrete digestible segments, features translations of complete critical texts from the journal Zenit and other periodicals that showcased the innovative poetics of the movement’s central figures: Ljubomir Micić, Branko Ve Poljanski, Ivan Goll, Boško Tokin, Marijan Mikac, and MID (pseudonym of Mita Dimitrijević). In addition, some obscure texts were unearthed and incorporated into the book. An indispensable compendium of the Yugoslav avant-garde, Zenithism uncloaks a chapter of European modernism and is a great read for the general public as well as scholars of literature, art history, visual arts, and more.