Serbian literature
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What is Serbian literature?
Serbian literature, from the Balkan region, is written in the Serbian language. Its origins are from the 12th century, with religious works. Saint Sava, who lived from 1175 to 1235, is considered the founder of Serbian literature. After 1459, when the Ottomans took over Serbia, written works decreased, but oral traditions thrived. Serbian literature saw a revival in the 18th century, led by Dositej Obradović. Romanticism then shaped the literature between 1820 and 1870, with Vuk Stefanović Karadžić reforming the literary language. From 1870 to 1900, realism was reflected in the works of Laza Lazarević, Simo Matavulj, and Stevan Sremac.
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What language is Serbian literature written in?
Serbian literature is written in the Serbian language, which linguists refer to as the Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian language. While Serbian doesn't have a distinct language separating it from its neighbors, it does differ in its written form from Bosnian and Croatian.
Reflecting Serbian religious heritage, Serbian utilizes a modified version of the Cyrillic alphabet. The Serbian language has 30 letters that correspond with the language’s five vowels and 25 consonants.
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Who are some famous authors from Serbian literature?
Serbian literature has produced many famous authors. Saint Sava, who lived from 1175 to 1235, is considered the originator of Serbian literature. Dositej Obradović was an important representative of the Enlightenment and greatly influenced Serbian literary development. Vuk Stefanović Karadžić reformed the literary language and collected Serbian folk poetry. Other notable writers include Petar II Petrović Njegoš, Branko Radičević, Jovan Jovanović (also known as Zmaj), Đura Jakšić, and Laza Kostić. Ivo Andrić, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1961, is another well-known Serbian writer. In addition, Dobrica Ćosić was a Serbian novelist, essayist, and politician known for his historical novels.
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What are important themes in Serbian literature?
Serbian literature, emerging in the 12th century, evolved from religious works to epic poems and folk traditions. A key theme involves national identity and self-assertion, particularly during the Romantic period (1820-1870), with writers like Vuk Stefanović Karadžić emphasizing folklore. The 19th century saw the rise of realism, with writers mirroring European trends like French Symbolism. Between World Wars I and II, political and social themes became central, as seen in Ivo Andrić's works, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1961. Post-war, writers explored revolution, art, and human emancipation, later incorporating experimental forms and social commentary.
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How did Serbian folk tales and epic poetry influence its literature?
Serbian folk tales and epic poetry significantly shaped its literature, especially after the Ottoman occupation in 1459 when written works declined. Oral traditions flourished in rural areas, preserving epic poems, songs, tales, and proverbs that were later collected and written down in the 19th century. This focus on folklore and national identity became a hallmark of Serbian Romanticism, influencing writers like Vuk Stefanović Karadžić, who reformed the literary language and documented folk poetry. The influence of folk traditions is also reflected in the arts, with traditional handicrafts and painting drawing inspiration from the past.
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How did history and politics shape modern Serbian literature?
Serbian literature has strong ties to its history and politics. The literature started mainly in the 12th century, producing religious works. After the Ottoman occupation in 1459, written literature declined, but oral traditions thrived.
A major revival of Serbian culture and literature occurred in the 18th century, with Dositej Obradović greatly influencing literary development. From 1820 to 1870, European Romanticism inspired a cult of folklore and national self-assertion. Vuk Stefanović Karadžić, a language reformer, collected folk poetry and stories.
Between World Wars I and II, writers continued to follow European literary movements. The Belgrade Surrealist group brought radical, left-wing politics, and some turned to Socialist Realism. The literature of the 1930s focused on political and social themes.
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Serbian literature, the literature of the Serbs, a Balkan people speaking the Serbian language (referred to by linguists as the Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian language).
Serbian literature developed primarily from the 12th century, producing such religious works as the illuminated Miroslav Gospel, biblical stories, and hagiographies. During the Middle Ages, the strong Serbian state that encompassed most of the Balkans fostered literary and translation production by highly educated priests in numerous monasteries. Though mostly replicating Byzantine literary genres, Serbian literature also developed its own indigenous genre of the biographies of Serbian rulers. The founder of the independent Serbian church and a figure customarily taken as the originator of national literature, Saint Sava (1175–1235) started this literary tradition by writing a biography of his own father, the Serbian ruler Stefan Nemanja. After the Ottomans occupied the bulk of Serbia in 1459, written literature declined, but oral literature of epic poems, songs, tales, proverbs, and other forms, which would for the most part be gathered and written down in the 19th century, continued to flourish in rural areas.
No significant revival of Serbian culture and literature occurred until the 18th century. The most important representative of the Enlightenment period was Dositej Obradović, whose writings greatly influenced Serbian literary development. A man of great learning and a polyglot who spent most of his life traveling through Europe and Asia Minor, Obradović wrote a captivating autobiography, Život i priključenija Dimitrija Obradovića (1783; The Life and Adventures of Dimitrije Obradović). Many characteristics of European Romanticism could be observed in the literature of the period 1820 to 1870, especially the cult of folklore and national self-assertion. A central figure was Vuk Stefanović Karadžić, a reformer of literary language who wrote a Serbian grammar and dictionary and collected Serbian folk poetry and stories.
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The greatest writer of the 19th century was Montenegrin ruler Petar II Petrović Njegoš, whose epic poem Gorski vijenac (1847; “The Mountain Wreath,” Eng. trans. The Sabre and the Song) presented in chiseled verse an event from Montenegrin history, giving a unique picture of Montenegrin society and reflecting Njegoš’s philosophy of the eternal struggle between good and evil. The lyric verses of Branko Radičević contributed to the break with earlier didactic-objective poetry. Notable Romantic writers included Radičević, Jovan Jovanović (known as Zmaj), Ðura Jakšić, and Laza Kostić. From 1870 to 1900 there was a tendency toward realism, reflected in the fiction of Laza Lazarević, Simo Matavulj, and Stevan Sremac, a satirist and humorist. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Serbian literature was influenced by European currents, particularly French Symbolism and the psychological novel. The most important writers of the turn of the century were poets Jovan Dučić, Aleksa Šantić, and Milan Rakić; prose writer Borisav Stanković, whose outstanding novel Nečista krv (1910; “The Impure Blood”) depicted tragic clashes in provincial Serbia of tradition and modernity and of eastern and western cultures; and a playwright of popular comedies, Branislav Nušić.
Serbian writers between World Wars I and II continued to follow major European literary movements. The Belgrade Surrealist group introduced a note of radical, left-wing politics, and some of its members later turned to the style of Socialist Realism. The literature of the 1930s was shaped by the focus on political and social themes. Among the major writers of the period was Ivo Andrić, whose novel Na Drini ćuprija (1945; The Bridge on the Drina) reflects the history of his homeland of Bosnia. Andrić was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1961. Another influential writer of the time was Miloš Crnjanski, best known for his two-volume novel Seobe (1929, 1962; Migrations), which deals with the fate of Serbs in the northern province of Vojvodina.
The postwar period initially saw the continuation of realism, but by the 1950s more original forms of expression had been introduced into prose, as in the work of Miodrag Bulatović and especially that of Oskar Davičo, whose novel Pesma (1952; The Poem) explored the dynamics among revolution, art, and human emancipation. Montenegrin Mihailo Lalić wrote several outstanding novels, the most acclaimed of which was Lelejska gora (1957; revised editions 1962 and 1990; The Wailing Mountain), which revolved around the struggle of Yugoslav partisans in World War II, weaving in galvanizing reflections about human existence in general. In poetry Serbia was represented by Desanka Maksimović, Vasko Popa, Stevan Raičković, Miodrag Pavlović, and Ivan Lalić.
Later developments included novels with more experimental forms, philosophical concerns, and greater social and political comment, such as Danilo Kiš’s Grobnica za Borisa Davidoviča (1976; A Tomb for Boris Davidovich), in which pseudo-biographical stories of communist revolutionaries and victims of the Stalinist purges crossed the line between fiction and factuality. The Klokotrizam group experimented with literary form in an apparent attempt to defy the canons and aesthetic norms of art. The 1970s and ’80s were also marked by the appearance of prominent women writers Milica Mičić-Dimovska, Hana Dalipi, and Biljana Jovanović, as well as by the trend toward a “new realism” characterized by a pseudo-documentary style and an emphasis on dark subjects.
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Well-known writers at the turn of the 21st century included Milorad Pavić, whose postmodern novel Hazarski rečnik (1984; Dictionary of the Khazars) deals with issues of history and identity, and Borislav Pekić, author of the novel Vreme čuda (1965; The Time of Miracles).