Slobodan Rakitic
Encyclopedia
Slobodan Rakitić is a Serbia
n writer and politician.
Rakitić was born on September 30, 1940 in Vlasovo, Prokuplje
, Serbia
. He visited the elementary school in Raška and the high school in Novi Pazar
. First he studied at the Belgrade Medical School, but then changed to the University of Belgrade
Faculty of Philology
, where he graduated.
He was the editor of literary magazines such as Contemporary (Savremenik) and Raška. He was a member of the first editorial staff who initiated the appearance of Literary Word (Književna reč) in 1972. As the editor in charge of literature and language, he has been working at the Ilija M. Kolarac Foundation
ever since 1973.
S. Rakitić wrote and had the following books of poetry published: Lights of Writings (1967), Raska Tunes (1968), The world is not our home (1970), Earth on the Tongue (1973), Poems of Tree and Fruit (1978), Craving for the South (1981), A Descendant (1982), Basic Land (1988), Deeds on Fire (1990), A Soul and a Sandbar (1994); his published books and essays are: From Ithaca to Illusion (1985), Forms and Meanings (1994); an anthology: Yugoslav Peoples' Poetry of Romanticism (1978); Selected Works in five volumes, Selected and New Poems (1998), Letters Made of Water (2000).
The poet received the following literary awards: "Milan Rakić
" (1974), "Isidora Sekulić
" (1982), "Branko Miljković
" (1989), "Laza Kostić
" (1995), "Kočić's pen
" (1997), "Jovan Dučić
" (1998), "Gold Link" (1998) and "Prince Lazar's Gold Cross" (1998). The book of poetry Deeds on Fire was awarded "The October Belgrade Prize" in 1990 and "Rade Drainac" award in 1991.
His poems have been translated into a large number of foreign languages.
Rakitic is a meditative lyric poet with a distinct feeling for history, culture and traditional values. His lyrically-intimist, elegiac, reflexive and religious poetry tries to offer answers to eternal issues of life and death, to the position of an individual and historic, collective sufferings. Rakitić's poetic discourse is outstandingly metaphysical, noble and dominantly neosymbolistic. Thematically, by forms and motives found in them, his poems correspond to the old religious service literature.
Under the communist regime, Slobodan Rakitić played an active role as a writer struggling for human rights and democratic freedoms. He was never a partisan of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia. In 1990, he took part in founding the "Serbian Renewal Movement
" (SPO), the largest opposition party at that time, led by Vuk Drašković
. He was the President of Serbian Renewal Movement parliamentary fraction in the Serbian Parliament
during the first pluralist National Assembly (1991–1992), also the leader of the parliamentary fraction (1993–1994) of DEPOS - "Democratic Movement of Serbia" (a large union of major opposition parties and numerous individuals not belonging to any of the political parties).
Rakitić was the president of the Association of Writers of Serbia 1994 - 2005.
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...
n writer and politician.
Rakitić was born on September 30, 1940 in Vlasovo, Prokuplje
Prokuplje
Prokuplje is a town and municipality located in Serbia at 43.24° North, 21.59° East. According to 2011 census, the town has a total population of 27,163 inhabitants, while population of municipality is 43,631. It is the administrative center of the Toplica District of Serbia. It is one of the...
, 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...
. He visited the elementary school in Raška and the high school in Novi Pazar
Novi Pazar
Novi Pazar is a city and municipality located in southwest Serbia, in the Raška District. According to the official census in 2011, number of inhabitants of municipality is 92,776, while the city itself has a population of 60,638...
. First he studied at the Belgrade Medical School, but then changed to the University of Belgrade
University of Belgrade
The University of Belgrade is the oldest and largest university of Serbia.Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it merged with the Kragujevac-based departments into a single university...
Faculty of Philology
University of Belgrade Faculty of Philology
The Faculty of Philology is one of the constituent schools of the University of Belgrade. The school's purpose is to train and educate its students in the academic study or practice in linguistics and philology.-History:...
, where he graduated.
He was the editor of literary magazines such as Contemporary (Savremenik) and Raška. He was a member of the first editorial staff who initiated the appearance of Literary Word (Književna reč) in 1972. As the editor in charge of literature and language, he has been working at the Ilija M. Kolarac Foundation
Ilija M. Kolarac Endowment
Ilija M. Kolarac Endowment is a building in central Belgrade. Also known as Kolarac University , it is located on Studentski Square....
ever since 1973.
S. Rakitić wrote and had the following books of poetry published: Lights of Writings (1967), Raska Tunes (1968), The world is not our home (1970), Earth on the Tongue (1973), Poems of Tree and Fruit (1978), Craving for the South (1981), A Descendant (1982), Basic Land (1988), Deeds on Fire (1990), A Soul and a Sandbar (1994); his published books and essays are: From Ithaca to Illusion (1985), Forms and Meanings (1994); an anthology: Yugoslav Peoples' Poetry of Romanticism (1978); Selected Works in five volumes, Selected and New Poems (1998), Letters Made of Water (2000).
The poet received the following literary awards: "Milan Rakić
Milan Rakic
Milan Rakić was a Serbian poet. He focused on dodecasyllable and hendecasyllable verse, which allowed him to achieve beautiful rhythm and rhyme in his poems. He was quite a perfectionist and therefore only published two collections of poems . He wrote largely about death and non-existence,...
" (1974), "Isidora Sekulić
Isidora Sekulic
Isidora Sekulić was a famous Serbian prose writer, novelist, essayist, adventurer, polyglot and art critic....
" (1982), "Branko Miljković
Branko Miljkovic
Branko Miljković was an iconic Serbian poet. He was best known across Yugoslavia and the Soviet bloc for his influential writings. He died prematurely in 1961 at the age of 27, found hanging from a tree in Zagreb, Croatia...
" (1989), "Laza Kostić
Laza Kostic
Laza Kostić was a Serbian poet, prose writer, lawyer, philosopher, polyglot, publicist, and politician, considered to be one of the greatest minds of Serbian literature.-Biography:...
" (1995), "Kočić's pen
Petar Kocic
Petar Kočić was a Serb prose writer and politician from Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was active in the Serbian National Organization with ties to the Mlada Bosna revolutionaries, after which he seceded with his closest supporters leading a wing under his leadership.Like both Borisav Stanković, who...
" (1997), "Jovan Dučić
Jovan Ducic
Jovan Dučić was a Serbian poet born in Herzegovina, writer and diplomat.-Biography:...
" (1998), "Gold Link" (1998) and "Prince Lazar's Gold Cross" (1998). The book of poetry Deeds on Fire was awarded "The October Belgrade Prize" in 1990 and "Rade Drainac" award in 1991.
His poems have been translated into a large number of foreign languages.
Rakitic is a meditative lyric poet with a distinct feeling for history, culture and traditional values. His lyrically-intimist, elegiac, reflexive and religious poetry tries to offer answers to eternal issues of life and death, to the position of an individual and historic, collective sufferings. Rakitić's poetic discourse is outstandingly metaphysical, noble and dominantly neosymbolistic. Thematically, by forms and motives found in them, his poems correspond to the old religious service literature.
Under the communist regime, Slobodan Rakitić played an active role as a writer struggling for human rights and democratic freedoms. He was never a partisan of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia. In 1990, he took part in founding the "Serbian Renewal Movement
Serbian Renewal Movement
The Serbian Renewal Movement is a political party in Serbia.It was founded in 1990.In 1997 a dissident group abandoned the party and formed New Serbia....
" (SPO), the largest opposition party at that time, led by Vuk Drašković
Vuk Draškovic
Vuk Drašković , leader of the Serbian Renewal Movement, is a Serbian politician who served as the Deputy Prime Minister of Yugoslavia and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of State Union of Serbia and Montenegro and Serbia.He graduated from the University of Belgrade's Law School in 1968...
. He was the President of Serbian Renewal Movement parliamentary fraction in the Serbian Parliament
National Assembly of Serbia
The National Assembly of Serbia is the unicameral parliament of Serbia. It is composed of 250 proportionally elected deputies elected in general elections by secret ballot, on 4 years term. The National Assembly elects the President of the National Assembly who presides over the sessions...
during the first pluralist National Assembly (1991–1992), also the leader of the parliamentary fraction (1993–1994) of DEPOS - "Democratic Movement of Serbia" (a large union of major opposition parties and numerous individuals not belonging to any of the political parties).
Rakitić was the president of the Association of Writers of Serbia 1994 - 2005.