Dositej Obradović
Dositej Obradović Доситеј Обрадовић | |
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Minister of Education of Serbia | |
In office 1807–1811 | |
Prime Minister | Mateja Nenadović |
Preceded by | Post established |
Succeeded by | Ivan Jugović |
Personal details | |
Born | Dimitrije Obradović 17 February 1739 (1739-02-17) Tschakowa, Kingdom of Hungary, Habsburg monarchy (now Ciacova, Romania) |
Died | 7 April 1811 (1811-04-08) (aged 72) Belgrade, Rumelia Eyalet, Ottoman Empire (now Belgrade, Serbia) |
Nationality | Serbian |
Signature | |
Dositej Obradović (Serbian Cyrillic: Доситеј Обрадовић, Serbian pronunciation: [dɔsǐtɛːj ɔbrǎːdɔʋitɕ]; 17 February 1739 – 7 April 1811) was a Serbian writer, biographer, diarist, philosopher, pedagogue, educational reformer, linguist, polyglot and the first minister of education of Serbia.[1] An influential protagonist of the Serbian national and cultural renaissance, he advocated Enlightenment and rationalist ideas, while remaining a Serbian patriot and an adherent of the Serbian Orthodox Church.
Life
Dositej Obradović was born Dimitrije Obradović, probably in 1739, in the Banat village of Čakovo, in the Habsburg monarchy, now Ciacova, in present-day Romania. From an early age, he was possessed with a passion for study. Obradović grew up bilingual (in Serbian and Romanian) and learned classical Greek, Latin, modern Greek, German, English, French, Russian and Italian.[2]
On 17 February 1757 he became a monk in the Serb Orthodox monastery of Hopovo, in the Srem region, and acquired the name Dositej (Dositheus).[3] He translated into Serbian many European classics, including Aesop's Fables.
Having devoured the contents of the monastery library, he hungered for further learning. On 2 November 1760 he left the monastery of Hopovo, bound for Hilandar, Mount Athos.[4]
In 1761 he went to Zagreb where he studied Latin. From 1761 to 1763 he was a teacher in a Serbian school in Kninsko Polje. For a brief period, he taught at a monastery in the Bay of Kotor before he was ordained as a priest by Vasilije Petrović. After falling ill, he returned to teach in Dalmatia in the village of Golubić near Knin.[4] He then went to Corfu where he studied Greek before going to Venice and then coming back to Dalmatia where he became a teacher again, in Plavno. He later enrolled at the University of Halle where he studied Philosophy. In 1783, he transferred to the University of Leipzig and published his first work.[5] He was a student of Johann Eberhard who himself was a disciple of Christian Wolf. More than a third of his life was spent in Austria where Obradović became influenced by the ideas of Joseph II and the German Enlightenment. Additionally, he was an Anglophile and influenced by English educators, seeing England as the land of spiritual freedom and modern civilization.[6]
Besides these countries, his forty year travel journeys across Europe and Asia Minor also took him to Greece, Hungary, Turkey, Romania, France, Russia, England, and Poland. Finally he went to Belgrade, at the invitation of Karađorđe Petrović, to become, in the newly organized government, Serbia's first minister of education.[7]
Obradović wrote first individual biographies and quickly the genre expanded to the form of biographical collection modelled on examples of Nepos, Suetonius, Plutarch, or Diogenes Laertius.
Obradović helped introduce to the Serbs the literature of certain western European countries.[8] He and Vuk Karadžić, whom Obradović influenced,[9] are recognized as the fathers of modern Serbian literature. Because the Serbian populace often suffered famine, Obradović also introduced potato cultivation to Serbia.
Dositej Obradović died in Belgrade, Serbia, in 1811.
Works
- Slovo poučiteljno Gosp. Georg. Joakima Colikofera, Leipzig, 1774, 31 pp.
- Pismo Haralampiju, 1783.
- Život i priključenija D.O., Leipzig, 1783.
- Sovjeti zdravago razuma, Leipzig, 1784, 119 pp.
- Ezopove i pročih raznih basnotvorcev basne, Leipzig, 1788, 451 pp.
- Pesme o izbavleniju Serbije, Vienna, 1789, 4 pp.
- Sobranije raznih naravoučitelnih veščej, Pécs, 1793, 2 + 316 pp.
- Etika ili filozofija naravnoučitelna, Venice, 1803, 160 pp.
- Vostani Serbije, 1804.
- Mezimac, Budim 1818, 230 + 11 pp.
- Ižica, 1830
- Pisma, Budapest, 1829, 126 pp.
- Prvenac, Karlštat 1930, 17 + 168 pp.
- Jastuk roda moga (lost), 1813
Translations
- Slovo poučitelno, 1784.
- Istina i prelest, (short story), 1788.
- Put u jedan dan, (short story), 1788.
- Aesop's Fables
- Hristoitija
- Bukvica
- Etika
- Venac
- Damon
- Ingleska izrečenija
In popular culture
- Pillow of my grave [sr], a television miniseries based on the biography of Dositej Obradović and directed by Sava Mrmak, was produced in 1990 by the Serbian broadcasting service RTS.[10][11][12]
See also
References
- ^ "Biography (Serbian)". Archived from the original on 16 July 2014. Retrieved 31 July 2007.
- ^ The south Slav Journal / "Dositey Obradovich Circle". - London : South Slav Research & Study Centre 1.1978 - 5. ISSN 0141-6146
- ^ Skerlić 1914, p. 58.
- ^ a b Skerlić 1914, p. 59.
- ^ Skerlić 1914, pp. 59–60.
- ^ Skerlić 1914, p. 63-64.
- ^ Skerlić 1914, pp. 59–61.
- ^ Wladimir Fischer: The Role of Dositej Obradovic in the Construction of Serbian Identities During the 19th Century. In: spacesofidentity vol. 1.3 (2001)[permanent dead link]
- ^ History of the Balkans: Volume 1. Cambridge University Press. 29 July 1983. ISBN 9780521252492.
- ^ Pillow of my grave on IMDB
- ^ Pillow of my grave on YouTube TV miniseries, 1 part
- ^ Pillow of my grave on YouTube TV miniseries, 2 part
Sources
- Skerlić, Jovan (1914). Istorija nove srpske književnosti (PDF) (in Serbian). Belgrade. pp. 58–76.
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Further reading
- Cassell's Encyclopaedia of World Literature, Volume 2, Funk & Wagnalls, 1954.
- Chambers Biographical Dictionary, Chambers Harrap, 1997.
- Ćurčić, N. M. J. The Ethics of Reason in the Philosophical System of Dositej Obradovic A Study of His Contribution in This Field to the Age of Reason. London: Unwin Bros. Ltd, 1976.
- Fischer, Wladimir, "The Role of Dositej Obradovic in the Construction of Serbian Identities During the 19th Century," Spaces of Identity (1.3, 2001), 67–87.
- Fischer, Wladimir: Creating a National Hero: The Changing Symbolics of Dositej Obradović. In: Identität – Kultur – Raum. Turia + Kant, Wien 2001, ISBN 3-85132-301-7.
- Fischer, Wladimir, "Dositej Obradović and the Ambivalence of Enlightenment". Heppner/Posch (eds.), Encounters in Europe's Southeast, Bochum: Winkler, 2012, ISBN 978-3-89911-190-3, ISBN 978-3-89911-205-4.
- Javarek, Vera (April 1947). "Dositej Obradović and the English rationalists". The Slavonic and East European Review. 25 (65).
- Merriam-Webster's Biographical Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, 1995.
- Obradović, Dositej. The Life and Adventures of Dimitrije Obradović. University of California Publications in Modern Philology 39. Berkeley; Los Angeles, 1953.
- Pijanović, Petar: Život i delo Dositeja Obradovića. Zavod za udžbenike i nastavna sredstva, Beograd 2000.
- "South Slavic Writers Before World War II". Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 147, Gale Research, 1995.
- Skerlić, Jovan, Istorija Nove Srpske Književnosti (Belgrade, 1914, 1921).
Government offices | ||
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Preceded by Post established | Minister of Education of Serbia 1807–1811 | Succeeded by |
- v
- t
- e
- Dositej Obradović
- Ivan Jugović
- Lazar Teodorović
- Dimitrije Davidović
- Tenka Stefanović
- Lazar Teodorović
- Golub Petrović
- Stefan Radičević
- Paun Janković
- Aleksa Janković
- Tenka Stefanović
- Lazar Arsenijević Batalaka
- Aleksa Simić
- Lazar Arsenijević Batalaka
- Aleksa Janković
- Stefan Marković
- Dimitrije Crnobarac
- Stefan Marković
- Jeremija Stanojević
- Dimitrije Crnobarac
- Jevtimije Ugričić
- Dimitrije Crnobarac
- Dimitrije Matić
- Ljubomir Nenadović
- Jovan Filipović
- Konstantin Cukić
- Panta Jovanović
- Dimitrije Matić
- Stojan Veljković
- Kosta Jovanović
- Stojan Novaković
- Filip Hristić
- Stojan Novaković
- Alimpije Vasiljević
- Stojan Bošković
- Alimpije Vasiljević
- Alimpije Vasiljević
- Stojan Bošković
- Alimpije Vasiljević
- Stojan Novaković
- Đorđe R. Pantelić
- Dimitrije Marinković
- Stevan D. Popović
- Milan Kujundžić Aberdar
- Alimpije Vasiljević
- Gliša Geršić
- Vladan Đorđević
- Svetozar Milosavljević
- Mihailo V. Vujić
- Andra Nikolić
- Jovan Bošković
- Kosta Alković
- Jovan Đorđević
- Lazar Dokić
- Milenko Vesnić
- Andra Đorđević
- Dimitrije Nešić
- Andra Đorđević
- Mihailo K. Đorđević
- Ljubomir Klerić
- Ljubomir Kovačević
- Aron Ninčić
- Andra Nikolić
- Andra Đorđević
- Pavle Marinković
- Ljubomir Kovačević
- Milenko Marković
- Luka Lazarević
- Živan Živanović
- Ljubomir Stojanović
- Dobra Ružić
- Ljubomir Stojanović
- Ljubomir Davidović
- Andra Nikolić
- Jovan Žujović
- Ljubomir Stojanović
- Andra Nikolić
- Ljubomir Stojanović
- Jovan Žujović
- Jaša Prodanović
- Ljubomir Jovanović
- Ljubomir Davidović
- Momčilo A. Ninčić
- Miloš Trifunović
- Ljubomir Davidović
- Dimitrije Dimitrijević
- Danilo Marković
- Dragoslav Mladenović
- Jova Todorović
- Mihailo Jokić
- Gašo Knežević
- Ljiljana Čolić
- Slobodan Vuksanović
- Slobodan Vuksanović
- Zoran Lončar
- Žarko Obradović
- Tomislav Jovanović
- Srđan Verbić
- Mladen Šarčević
- Branko Ružić