Dositej Obradovic

Dositej Obradovic was born Dimitrije Obradovic in the village of Cakovo (now Ciacova, Timis County, Romania) in Banat, probably in 1742. On February 17, 1757, he became a monk in the Serb Orthodox monastery of Hopovo (in Srem region) and acquired the name Dositej (Dositheus). He lived there until November 2, 1760, when he became disillusioned with monastic life.

For forty years thereafter, he traveled Europe and Asia Minor: Albania, Dalmatia, Corfu, Greece, Hungary, Turkey, Germany, Romania, France, Russia, England, Italy. Finally he went to Belgrade, where he died.

Obradovic helped introduce to the Serbs the learning of western Europe. He and Vuk Karadžic, whom Obradovic influenced, are recognized, respectively, as the grandfather and father of Serbian literature.

Obradovic had grown up bilingual (Serbian, Romanian) and learned classical Greek, Latin, modern Greek, German, English, French, Russian, Albanian and Italian. He translated into Serbian many many western European classics, including Aesop's Fables.

Works

Slovo pouciteljno Gosp. Georg. Joakima Colikofera, Leipzig, 1774, 31 pp.
Pismo Haralampiju, 1783.
Život i prikljucenija D.O., Leipzig, 1783, 1788.
Sovjeti zdravog razuma, Leipzig, 1784, 119 pp.
Ezopove i procih raznih basnotvorcev basne, Leipzig, 1788, 451 pp.
Pesme o izbavleniju Serbije, Bec, 1789, 4 pp.
Sobranije raznih naravoucitelnih vešcej, Pécs, 1793, 2 + 316 pp.
Etika ili filozofija naravnoucitelna, Venice, 1803, 160 pp.
Pesma na insurekciju Serbijanov, 1804.
Mezimac I Budim, 1818, 230 + 11 pp.
Ižica, 1830.
Pisma Budim, 1829, 126 pp.
Prvenac Karlštat, 1930, 17 + 168 pp.