Aleksandar Sasha Petrov (1938 – 2021)
Aleksandar Sasha Petrov was a writer, scholar, literary historian, university professor, anthologist, editor, a man who left a unique legacy in Serbian, Yugoslav and Russian Studies, literary theory, and criticism. He was a generous man. He was open to new ideas but also to the gifts of tradition. He was a pioneer in introducing Russian Formalism into the Yugoslav literary scholarship. Sasha was a supreme literary interpreter of the works of Serbian greats, Miloš Crnjanski, Ivo Andrić and Vasko Popa, a meticulous researcher of the Serbian literary tradition.
As a young scholar in the Institute for Literature and Arts in Belgrade, he founded a research project dedicated to the study of periodicals, a new field that would many years later become a valued new segment of literary studies.
Sasha was born in Serbia, but his parents were so-called White Russians who escaped from Russia, torn by the October Revolution and Civil war that followed. They found refuge and a new home in Belgrade and the Russian church there was spiritual home for Sasha.
Many of his scholarly books as well as poetry books were published in Russian. Sasha used to say he was a 100% Serbian and a 100% Russian. He was in fact a cosmopolitan scholar.
During the seventies and eighties, Petrov was instrumental in the activities of literary organizations. As President of the Association of Serbian Writers and Acting President of the Association of Yugoslav Writers, he was instrumental in organized demands for political liberation and democratization.
After being a visiting professor in Japan and at several US universities in the early eighties and nineties, Sasha and his wife Krinka settled in Pittsburgh, where he taught at the University of Pittsburgh. In 1993, he became Serbian section editor of the American Srbobran. The nineties were a crucial time for the fate of the Serbian people and the involvement of Serbian Americans in their support. The promotion of Serbian American culture and identity as well the renewal of ties between American Serbs and their historical homeland became a new field in Sasha's work.
Petrov published over 40 books . Many were translated into numerous foreign languages and many attracted scholarly and literary awards.
Sasha Petrov spent the last decade of his life battling cancer while continuing to work on his books. His last wish was to return to Belgrade. He passed away in his home on November 19, 2021, surrounded by his closest family, with a smile on his face. He rests in the historic Russian cemetary in Belgrade. A reliable friend. A man of faith, hope and generosity. May he live in our memory.
Radmila Gorup,
Emerita
Columbia University