NJEGOŠ U NJEMAČKIM PUTOPISIMA SVOGA DOBA NJEGOŠ IN GERMAN TRAVELOGUES OF HIS TIME

Although travelogue is a marginalized literary genre, its role in imagological research is enormous and it cannot be disputed that as a media for studying relations between cultures, it mediated vast knowledge and information that was often taken as the only authoritative one. German travel writings of the 19th century about Montenegro were very scarce until Petar II Petrović Njegoš came to power, and with the change of government in Montenegro, the attitude of foreigners towards it also changed, so travel writers from Germany headed to this South Slavic country. Translations played a great role in arousing the interest of German writers, especially the translation of Karadžić's work "Montenegro and Montenegrins", but also the visit of the Saxon King Frederick Augustus II. The time of Njegoš's rule can be considered the blooming of German travel literature about Montenegro and the time when closer ties were established between these two cultures, which will affect the situation after Njegoš's death, when the most important travel writers of the 19th century came to Montenegro from the German-speaking area. In the German travelogues of Njegoš's time, the writers dealt with numerous topics that clearly reflected the image of the other and not all had the same approach and view of certain phenomena in Montenegrin society. However, the personality of the Montenegrin ruler united them and they all wrote hymns about Njegoš, without exception. He was the personification of kindness and hospitality, erudition and wisdom, masculine beauty and prudence in the German travelogues of his time, he was a reformer and an enlightener, and in every respect he was a symbol of progress.