This paper presents and analyzes Stanislav Vinaver’s insights into the issue of the Serbian literary language and written poetic tradition. Vinaver’s essays point to the importance of changing the perspective regarding the representation of reality in an artistic text, as well as the critical approach to literary work. Vinaver argued for abandoning the dominant methods of academic criticism and aesthetics (Bogdan Popović, Jovan Skerlić), but highlighted the literary importance of Borisav Stanković and Rastko Petrović in terms of linguistic drifts. The paper emphasizes the relevance of Vinaver’s views on the problems of the relationship between the literary language and the representation of reality. In the context of Vinaver’s interpretations, the main focus of the paper is the problem of adequacy of the literary language in relation to social reality changes and shifts in poetic systems.

Keywords: Stanislav Vinaver, poetic tradition, linguistic drift