Serbian literature
Encyclopedia
Serbian literature refers to literature
written in Serbian
and/or in Serbia
.
The history of Serbian literature begins with theological works from the 10th- and 11th centuries, developing in the 13th century by Saint Sava
and his disciples. With the fall of Serbia and neighbouring countries in the 15th century, there is a gap in the literary history, it is briefly revived in the 18th century by writers in Vojvodina
, then under Austro-Hungarian rule. Serbia gains independence following the Serbian Revolution
(1804-1815) and Serbian literature has since prospered.
in the 890s. This marks the beginning of the literary Slavic language, Old Church Slavonic
.
The Serbian recension of Old Slavic, Old Serbian, marks the first norm of Serbian literary language. The oldest known works are the Codex Marianus
from the 10th century, and the Grašković- and Mihanović fragment from the 11th century, all written in the Glagolitic script. The oldest surviving monuments of Serbian literacy are Temnićki natpis and Humska ploča dating to the 10th century.
The oldest Cyrillic work is the Miroslav Gospels from the late 12th century, one of the most precious and significant documents of Serbian cultural heritage. The Gospel Book was written in Hum
, by Gligorije the Pupil, in the name of Prince Miroslav of Hum
, the brother of Grand Prince Stefan Nemanja
(r. 1166–1196). Miroslav's Gospel explains the origin of the Cyrillic script, the letters in it are a masterpiece of calligraphy
and illustrations are daring and magnificent miniature
s, vignette
s and initial
s. For centuries Miroslav's Gospel has been kept in the Hilandar
monastery of the Serbian Orthodox Church
, on Mount Athos
, Greece
. In 2005 Miroslav's Gospel was entered onto the UNESCO
Memory of the World List.
Rastko Nemanjić, the youngest son of Stefan Nemanja
, was the author of several of the more important medieval works. He founded the Serbian Orthodox Church
, at the same time writing several theological works, the first biography (of his father) and the Zakonopravilo
, the first constitution of Serbia.
The Oktoih
from 1494 is a Serbian Orthodox Christian Psalter
and one of the first Serbian books to be published.
from generation to generation. Historic events, such as the "Battle of Kosovo
" (Serbian
: Бој на Косову / Boj na Kosovu) in the 14th century play a major role in the development of the Serbian epic poetry
.
continued building onto Medieval tradition, influenced by Russian
baroque
, which culminated in Slavoserbian language
. Most important authors of the time are Đorđe Branković, Gavril Stefanović Venclović
, Jovan Rajić
and Zaharije Orfelin
.
. The most prominent representative of that is Dositej Obradović
, who gave up his monastic vows and left for decades of wandering, occasionally studying, teaching, or working in the cultural field in countries as variegated as Russia
, England
, Germany
, Albania
, Ottoman Turkey and Italy
, and ending up as a Minister of Education in the Principality of Serbia.
One of the first countries to win independence from the Ottoman Empire
, the Serbian independence movement sparked the first works of modern Serbian literature. Most notably Petar II Petrović Njegoš and his Mountain Wreath of 1847, represent a cornerstone of the Serbian epic, which was based on the rhythms of the folk songs.
Furthermore, Vuk Stefanović Karadžić
, a friend of J. W. von Goethe, became the first person to collect folk songs and epics and to publish them in a book. Vuk Karadžić is regarded as the premier Serbian philologist
, who together with Đuro Daničić played a major role in reforming the modern Serbian language
, though in recent times his work has been widely criticized for destroying the ethos of the Serbian language.
The most well known authors are Ivo Andrić
, Miloš Crnjanski
, Meša Selimović
, Borislav Pekić
, Danilo Kiš
, Milorad Pavić
, David Albahari
, Miodrag Bulatović
, Dobrica Ćosić
, Zoran Živković
and many others. Jelena Dimitrijević
and Isidora Sekulić
are two early twentieth century women writers. Svetlana Velmar-Janković
is the best known female novelist in Serbia today.
Milorad Pavić is perhaps the most widely acclaimed Serbian author today, most notably for his Dictionary of the Khazars
(Хазарски речник / Hazarski rečnik), which has been translated into 24 languages.
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
written in Serbian
Serbian language
Serbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries....
and/or in Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
.
The history of Serbian literature begins with theological works from the 10th- and 11th centuries, developing in the 13th century by Saint Sava
Saint Sava
Saint Sava was a Serbian Prince and Orthodox monk, the first Archbishop of the autocephalous Serbian Church, the founder of Serbian law and literature, and a diplomat. Sava was born Rastko Nemanjić , the youngest son of Serbian Grand Župan Stefan Nemanja , and ruled the appanage of Hum briefly in...
and his disciples. With the fall of Serbia and neighbouring countries in the 15th century, there is a gap in the literary history, it is briefly revived in the 18th century by writers in Vojvodina
Vojvodina
Vojvodina, officially called Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an autonomous province of Serbia. Its capital and largest city is Novi Sad...
, then under Austro-Hungarian rule. Serbia gains independence following the Serbian Revolution
Serbian revolution
Serbian revolution or Revolutionary Serbia refers to the national and social revolution of the Serbian people taking place between 1804 and 1835, during which this territory evolved from an Ottoman province into a constitutional monarchy and a modern nation-state...
(1804-1815) and Serbian literature has since prospered.
Medieval literature
The oldest Slavic script, Glagolitic, seems to have been developed in from cursive Greek in Macedonia by the early South Slavs. Saint Cyril formalized and expanded the script in the 860s, amid the christianization of Slavs. Cyrillic may have been a creation of Cyril's disciples, perhaps at the Preslav Literary SchoolPreslav Literary School
The Preslav Literary School was the first literary school in the medieval Bulgarian Empire. It was established by Boris I in 885 or 886 in Bulgaria's capital, Pliska...
in the 890s. This marks the beginning of the literary Slavic language, Old Church Slavonic
Old Church Slavonic
Old Church Slavonic or Old Church Slavic was the first literary Slavic language, first developed by the 9th century Byzantine Greek missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius who were credited with standardizing the language and using it for translating the Bible and other Ancient Greek...
.
The Serbian recension of Old Slavic, Old Serbian, marks the first norm of Serbian literary language. The oldest known works are the Codex Marianus
Codex Marianus
The Codex Marianus ) is a Glagolitic fourfold Gospel Book from the beginning of eleventh century , which is , one of the oldest manuscript witnesses to the Old Church Slavonic language, one of the two fourfold gospels being part of the Old Church Slavonic canon, which contains a parts written by...
from the 10th century, and the Grašković- and Mihanović fragment from the 11th century, all written in the Glagolitic script. The oldest surviving monuments of Serbian literacy are Temnićki natpis and Humska ploča dating to the 10th century.
Nemanyid era
The Nemanyid era marks the beginning of extensive works of theology, biography and law (civil, church, constitutions).The oldest Cyrillic work is the Miroslav Gospels from the late 12th century, one of the most precious and significant documents of Serbian cultural heritage. The Gospel Book was written in Hum
Zahumlje
Zachlumia or Zahumlje was a medieval principality located in modern-day regions of Herzegovina and southern Dalmatia...
, by Gligorije the Pupil, in the name of Prince Miroslav of Hum
Miroslav of Hum
Miroslav Zavidović or Miroslav of Hum was a 12th-century Great Prince of Zachlumia from 1162 to 1190, an administrative division of the medieval Serbian Principality covering Herzegovina and southern Dalmatia....
, the brother of Grand Prince Stefan Nemanja
Stefan Nemanja
Stefan Nemanja was the Grand Prince of the Grand Principality of Serbia from 1166 to 1196, a heir of the Vukanović dynasty that marked the beginning of a greater Serbian realm .He is remembered for his contributions to Serbian culture and...
(r. 1166–1196). Miroslav's Gospel explains the origin of the Cyrillic script, the letters in it are a masterpiece of calligraphy
Calligraphy
Calligraphy is a type of visual art. It is often called the art of fancy lettering . A contemporary definition of calligraphic practice is "the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious and skillful manner"...
and illustrations are daring and magnificent miniature
Miniature (illuminated manuscript)
The word miniature, derived from the Latin minium, red lead, is a picture in an ancient or medieval illuminated manuscript; the simple decoration of the early codices having been miniated or delineated with that pigment...
s, vignette
Vignette (graphic design)
Vignettes, in graphic design, are decorative designs usually in books, used both to separate sections or chapters and to decorate borders.In Descriptive, or Analytical Bibliography for the hand-press period a vignette refers to an engraved design printed using a copper-plate press, on a page that...
s and initial
Initial
In a written or published work, an initial is a letter at the beginning of a work, a chapter, or a paragraph that is larger than the rest of the text. The word is derived from the Latin initialis, which means standing at the beginning...
s. For centuries Miroslav's Gospel has been kept in the Hilandar
Hilandar
Hilandar Monastery is a Serbian Orthodox monastery on Mount Athos in Greece. It was founded in 1198 by the first Serbian Archbishop Saint Sava and his father, Grand Prince Stefan Nemanja of the medieval Serbian principality of Raška...
monastery of the Serbian Orthodox Church
Serbian Orthodox Church
The Serbian Orthodox Church is one of the autocephalous Orthodox Christian churches, ranking sixth in order of seniority after Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Russia...
, on Mount Athos
Mount Athos
Mount Athos is a mountain and peninsula in Macedonia, Greece. A World Heritage Site, it is home to 20 Eastern Orthodox monasteries and forms a self-governed monastic state within the sovereignty of the Hellenic Republic. Spiritually, Mount Athos comes under the direct jurisdiction of the...
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
. In 2005 Miroslav's Gospel was entered onto the UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
Memory of the World List.
Rastko Nemanjić, the youngest son of Stefan Nemanja
Stefan Nemanja
Stefan Nemanja was the Grand Prince of the Grand Principality of Serbia from 1166 to 1196, a heir of the Vukanović dynasty that marked the beginning of a greater Serbian realm .He is remembered for his contributions to Serbian culture and...
, was the author of several of the more important medieval works. He founded the Serbian Orthodox Church
Serbian Orthodox Church
The Serbian Orthodox Church is one of the autocephalous Orthodox Christian churches, ranking sixth in order of seniority after Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Russia...
, at the same time writing several theological works, the first biography (of his father) and the Zakonopravilo
Zakonopravilo
The Nomocanon of Saint Sava was the first Serbian constitution and the highest code in the Serbian Orthodox Church, finished in 1219. This legal act was well developed. St...
, the first constitution of Serbia.
The Oktoih
Oktoih
Oktoih , in English the Book of Psalms or Psalter, is an incunabula printed in Cetinje, Montenegro in 1494. Oktoih is a book of liturgical hymns for singing in eight parts. It was printed in the Printing House of Crnojevići by Đurađ IV Crnojević, an educated ruler of Montenegro from 1490-1496...
from 1494 is a Serbian Orthodox Christian Psalter
Psalter
A psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms, often with other devotional material bound in as well, such as a liturgical calendar and litany of the Saints. Until the later medieval emergence of the book of hours, psalters were the books most widely owned by wealthy lay persons and were...
and one of the first Serbian books to be published.
Oral literature
Medieval Serbian literature was dominated by folk songs and epics passed orallyOral literature
Oral literature corresponds in the sphere of the spoken word to literature as literature operates in the domain of the written word. It thus forms a generally more fundamental component of culture, but operates in many ways as one might expect literature to do...
from generation to generation. Historic events, such as the "Battle of Kosovo
Battle of Kosovo
The Battle of Kosovo took place on St. Vitus' Day, June 15, 1389, between the army led by Serbian Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović, and the invading army of the Ottoman Empire under the leadership of Sultan Murad I...
" (Serbian
Serbian language
Serbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries....
: Бој на Косову / Boj na Kosovu) in the 14th century play a major role in the development of the Serbian epic poetry
Serbian epic poetry
Serb epic poetry is a form of epic poetry written by Serbs originating in today's Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia and Montenegro. The main cycles were composed by unknown Serb authors between the 14th and 19th centuries...
.
Baroque
Serbian literature in VojvodinaVojvodina
Vojvodina, officially called Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an autonomous province of Serbia. Its capital and largest city is Novi Sad...
continued building onto Medieval tradition, influenced by Russian
Russian literature
Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia or its émigrés, and to the Russian-language literature of several independent nations once a part of what was historically Russia or the Soviet Union...
baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
, which culminated in Slavoserbian language
Slavoserbian
The Slavonic-Serbian language is a form of the Serbian language which was used, exclusively as a written language , at the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, predominantly by Serbian writers in Vojvodina and other parts of the Habsburg Monarchy...
. Most important authors of the time are Đorđe Branković, Gavril Stefanović Venclović
Gavril Stefanovic Venclovic
Gavrilo Stefanović Venclović was a Serbian priest, writer, poet, orator, philosopher, and illuminator. He was one of the first and most notable representatives of Serbian Baroque literature...
, Jovan Rajić
Jovan Rajic
Jovan Rajić was a Serbian writer, historian, traveller, and pedagogue, considered one of the greatest Serbian academics of the 18th century...
and Zaharije Orfelin
Zaharije Orfelin
Zaharije Orfelin was an 18th-century Serb polymath who lived and worked in the Austrian Monarchy and Venice. Described as a Renaissance man, he was an educator, administrator, poet, engraver, lexicographer, herbalist, historian, winemaker, translator, editor, publisher, polemicist, and traveler...
.
Pre-Romantism
Before the start of a fully established Romanticism concomitant with the Revolutions of 1848, some Romanticist ideas (e.g. the usage of national language to rally for national unification of all classes) were developing, especially among monastic clergy in VojvodinaVojvodina
Vojvodina, officially called Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an autonomous province of Serbia. Its capital and largest city is Novi Sad...
. The most prominent representative of that is Dositej Obradović
Dositej Obradovic
Dositej Dimitrije Obradović was a Serbian author, philosopher, linguist, polyglot and the first minister of education of Serbia...
, who gave up his monastic vows and left for decades of wandering, occasionally studying, teaching, or working in the cultural field in countries as variegated as Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Albania
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
, Ottoman Turkey and Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, and ending up as a Minister of Education in the Principality of Serbia.
One of the first countries to win independence from the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
, the Serbian independence movement sparked the first works of modern Serbian literature. Most notably Petar II Petrović Njegoš and his Mountain Wreath of 1847, represent a cornerstone of the Serbian epic, which was based on the rhythms of the folk songs.
Furthermore, Vuk Stefanović Karadžić
Vuk Stefanovic Karadžic
Vuk Stefanović Karadžić was a Serbian philolog and linguist, the major reformer of the Serbian language, and deserves, perhaps, for his collections of songs, fairy tales, and riddles to be called the father of the study of Serbian folklore. He was the author of the first Serbian dictionary...
, a friend of J. W. von Goethe, became the first person to collect folk songs and epics and to publish them in a book. Vuk Karadžić is regarded as the premier Serbian philologist
Philology
Philology is the study of language in written historical sources; it is a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics.Classical philology is the philology of Greek and Classical Latin...
, who together with Đuro Daničić played a major role in reforming the modern Serbian language
Serbian language
Serbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries....
, though in recent times his work has been widely criticized for destroying the ethos of the Serbian language.
Modern literature
In the 20th century, Serbian literature flourished and a myriad of young and talented writers appeared.The most well known authors are Ivo Andrić
Ivo Andric
Ivan "Ivo" Andrić was a Yugoslav novelist, short story writer, and the 1961 winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. His writings dealt mainly with life in his native Bosnia under the Ottoman Empire...
, Miloš Crnjanski
Miloš Crnjanski
Miloš Crnjanski was a poet of the expressionist wing of Serbian modernism, author, and a diplomat...
, Meša Selimović
Meša Selimovic
Mehmed "Meša" Selimović was a Yugoslav writer. His novel Death and the Dervish is one of the most important literary works in post-war Yugoslavia. Some of the main themes in his works are relations between individual and authority, life and death, and other existential problems...
, Borislav Pekić
Borislav Pekic
Borislav Pekić was a Serbian writer. He was born in 1930, to a prominent family in Montenegro, at that time part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. From 1945 until his immigration to London in 1971, he lived in Belgrade...
, Danilo Kiš
Danilo Kiš
Danilo Kiš was a Yugoslavian novelist, short story writer and poet who wrote in Serbo-Croatian. Kiš was influenced by Bruno Schulz, Vladimir Nabokov, Jorge Luis Borges and Ivo Andrić, among other authors...
, Milorad Pavić
Milorad Pavic (writer)
Milorad Pavić was a Serbian poet, prose writer, translator, and literary historian. He was also a candidate for Nobel Prize in Literature....
, David Albahari
David Albahari
David Albahari is a Serbian writer of Jewish origin from Kosovo, residing in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Albahari writes mainly novels and short stories. He is also an established translator from English into Serbian. He is a member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts...
, Miodrag Bulatović
Miodrag Bulatovic
Miodrag Bulatović was a Montenegrin Serb novelist and playwright...
, Dobrica Ćosić
Dobrica Cosic
Dobrica Ćosić is a Serbian writer, as well as a political and Serb nationalist theorist. He was the first president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1992 to 1993...
, Zoran Živković
Zoran Živkovic (writer)
Zoran Živković is a writer, essayist, researcher, publisher and translator from Belgrade, Serbia , where he still resides.-Biography:...
and many others. Jelena Dimitrijević
Jelena Dimitrijevic
Jelena Dimitrijević was a short story writer, novelist, poet, traveller, social worker, feminist, and a polyglot. Almost forgotten today, she was one of the most remarkable women of her age, along with her contemporaries, poets Draga Dejanović and Danica Marković, and writers Isidora Sekulić and...
and Isidora Sekulić
Isidora Sekulic
Isidora Sekulić was a famous Serbian prose writer, novelist, essayist, adventurer, polyglot and art critic....
are two early twentieth century women writers. Svetlana Velmar-Janković
Svetlana Velmar-Jankovic
Svetlana Velmar-Janković is a Serbian novelist, essayist and chronicler of Belgrade. She was born in 1933 in Belgrade, Serbia, Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and educated in Belgrade where she continues to live today....
is the best known female novelist in Serbia today.
Milorad Pavić is perhaps the most widely acclaimed Serbian author today, most notably for his Dictionary of the Khazars
Dictionary of the Khazars
Dictionary of the Khazars: A Lexicon Novel is the first novel by Serbian writer Milorad Pavić, published in 1984. Originally written in Serbian, the novel has been translated into many languages...
(Хазарски речник / Hazarski rečnik), which has been translated into 24 languages.
English translations of some of the important pieces of modern Serbian literature
- Andric, Ivo, The Bridge on the Drina, The University of Chicago Press, 1977.
- Kis, Danilo, A Tomb for Boris Davidovich, translated by Translated by Duska Mikic-Mitchell, Penguin Books, 1980.
- Pekic, Borislav, The Time of Miracles, translated by Lovett F. Edwards, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1976.
- Pekic, Borislav, The Houses of Belgrade, translated by Bernard Johnson, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1978.
- Pekic, Borislav, How to Quiet a Vampir: A Sotie (Writings from an Unbound Europe),translated by Stephen M. Dickey and Bogdan Rakic, Northwestern University Press, 2005
External links
- Selected Literatures and Authors Page - Serbian, Montenegrin, and Yugoslav Literature
- A brief overview of Serbian Literature
- Slavic Literature Resources from the Slavic Reference Service, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
- Istorijska biblioteka: Serbian Medieval Literature
- A Quick Guide to Serbian Literature (in English)