Rastko Petrović. Heliotherapy of Aphasia

Abstract

The manifesto “Heliotherapy of Aphasia” (1923) by Rastko Petrović (1898–1949) is one of the key theoretical statements of the Serbian avant-garde and represents a philosophical and poetic reflection on the state of language in early 20th-century culture. It was written shortly after the publication of Petrović's poetry collection "Revelation" (Otkrovenje, 1922). In this essay, the concept of aphasia, understood as the loss of the word, is taken beyond the boundaries of medical terminology and acquires the meaning of a cultural and aesthetic metaphor. Petrović considers the loss of the immediate connection between the word and the thing as a symptom of the modern state of language, in which the word turns into a cliché and the act of expression becomes an automated procedure. Contemplating the “disease of language” as an individual, sociological, and artistic phenomenon, the author proposes a model for renewing verbal matter through concentration of attention, overcoming speech automatism, and developing a system of so-called “repertoires” of elementary expressions. The text combines philosophical reflection on the nature of language with avant-garde poetics and polemics with Dadaism, formulating the task of restoring the expressive power of the word and reconsidering the relationship between the subject, the thing, and meaning. This translation is published in Russian for the first time; the manifesto is presented in full, without abridgements.

Funding

The research was funded by the Russian Science Foundation grant No. 25-28-02368, https://rscf.ru/en/project/25-28-02368/

Received 26 February 2026

Revised 6 April 2026

Accepted 2 June 2026

For citation: Shatko, E.V., 2026. Rastko Petrović. Heliotherapy of Aphasia. Slavic World in the Third Millennium, 21 (1–2), pp. 334–344. https://doi.org/10.31168/2412-6446.2026.21.1-2.19