National Romanticism: The Formation of National Movements

Dositej Obradović: Rise, O Serbia

DOSITEJ OBRADOVIĆ: RISE, O SERBIA Title: Vostani Serbie (Rise, O Serbia) Originally published: Venice, Pane Theodosios, 1804 Language: Slaveno-Serbian Reprinted in Dositej Obradović, Sabrana dela, vol. III (Belgrade: Prosveta, 1961), pp. 17–19. About the author Dositej Obradović [ca.1740, Čakovo (Banat), (Rom. Ciacova, present-day Romania ) – 1811 Belgrade]: Orthodox monk, writer, teacher, and politician. He was born Dimitrije Obradović, but was renamed Dositej in 1757 when he became a monk. In his early childhood his parents died and he was raised by a foster family. In 1760, with the blessing of his abbot, he left the monastery to pursue his education . He went to Zagreb to study Latin and became a teacher in Dalmatia. Soon after, he traveled to Greece, Asia Minor, Italy, Germany, France, England, and Russia . During these travels he learned Greek, German, English, Italian, and French, and enriched his knowledge in the fields of philosophy, the natural sciences and literature. In 1782 he left his monastic order and enrolled at the University of Halle, where he was strongly encouraged to write and publish his own works. In the 1780s and 1790s he wrote a series of works popularizing the philosophical ideas of the Enlightenment, especially in the form of moral tales and parables. During the First Serbian Uprising he gave both financial and moral support to the leaders of the movement. In 1806 he left Trieste and went to Serbia to offer concrete help in building new institutions. He was one of the founders of the first Serbian high school, the Velika škola in Belgrade. Moreover, he became responsible for education in the government of Serbian insurgents and was in charge of the education of the son of Karađorđe, the leader of the Uprising. Dositej is considered the most prominent figure of the Enlightenment in Serbia. His works were mostly free adaptations of foreign texts (‘Advices of sound reason,’ ‘Fables,’ and others). In terms of genre his works are heterogeneous, including anecdotes, moralistic essays, philosophical treatises, fables (Obradović’s favorite form), occasional verses, and even a drama. He also had a considerable impact on Bulgarian and Romanian culture at the turn of the nineteenth century. He has been praised as the first rationalist and modern thinker among the Serbs and a radical champion and propagator of the ideas of the Enlightenment in Southeast Europe. 392 NATIONAL HEROISM Main works: Život i priključenija Dimitrija Obradovića narečenog u kaluđerstvu Dositeja [Life and adventures of Dimitrije Obradović, in his monastic name Dositej] (1783); Sovjeti zdravago razuma [Advices of sound reason] (1784); Sobranje raznih naravoučitelnih veščej [Collection of various moral writings]; Pismo Haralampiju [Letter to Haralampije] (1783); Basne (Fables) (1788). Context The First Serbian Uprising (1804–1813) (see Đorđe Petrović (Kara- đorđe), Letter to Petar Petrović Njegoš) had broken out in defense of the lost rights to administrative self-rule and securing order that had been granted by the central Ottoman authority to the Belgrade Pashalik in the late-eighteenth century but which had been swept away by the reign of terror of the dahiye.1 The impetus, ideological as well as material, for the gradual transformation of the revolt into what later became generally distinguished as a ‘national revolution,’ came to a very large extent from the Serbian diaspora in the Habsburg domains. The far more auspicious political and infrastructural environment from which the Habsburg Serbs profited, especially in the neighboring region of Vojvodina, spurred the movement for the cultural ‘revival ’ and national emancipation of the Serbs in Serbia proper. The ideas regarding political liberation and a modern national state as well as the bureaucratic personnel for the newly established Serbian principality after 1830 also emerged from the Habsburg areas. The cultural-political heritage of Dositej Obradović can be seen as epitomizing these tendencies. At the moment when the First Uprising started, Dositej was in Trieste. He received the news about its outbreak with enthusiasm, and was engaged in active correspondence with its leaders and prominent Serbs in Austria, with whom he tried to organize help for the rebels. Although Dositej was later accused by his famous contemporaries, Vuk Karadžić and Njegoš, of professing double moral standards, his actions bear witness to his strong devotion to the idea of a liberated Serbia. He donated half of his savings to the Serbian fighters, and offered effective recommendations about the direction which Serbia should take in the event of success in the struggle. In a letter from 1805 Dositej...