Dimitrija Demeter
| Dimitrija Demeter | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | Dimitrios Dimitriou 21 July 1811 Zagreb, Kingdom of Croatia, Austrian Empire |
| Died | 24 June 1872 (aged 60) Zagreb, Austria-Hungary |
| Pen name | Dimitrija Demeter |
| Occupation | Poet, dramatist |
| Language | Croatian |
| Ethnicity | Greek |
| Period | 1831 - 1872 |
| Genre | romantic |
| Literary movement | Illyrian movement (Romantic nationalism) |
| Notable works |
Grobničko polje (1842) Teuta (1844) |
Dimitrios Dimitriou sometimes spelled Dimitrija Demeter or Dimitrije Demeter; 21 July 1811 – 24 June 1872) was a Greek Croatian poet, dramatist, short story writer and literary critic. One of the most learned people of his time, he played a major role in the movement for the national awakening of the Croatian nation (then under Austro-Hungarian rule) as part of what he and his close friend and colleague Ljudevit Gaj called the Illyrian people by imposing the Croatian language in the local literacy and with the creation of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb. His political activism for a Croatian national revival dealt through his participation in many patriotic pamphlets, most notably the Narodne novine and Hrvatski Sokol among many others.
He was born in a wealthy merchant family of Greek origin. His parents Theodoros (Θεόδωρος) and Afrati (Αφράτη) came to Austria-Hungary at 1790 from the city of Siatista, then under Ottoman rule. He studied philosophy in Graz and medicine in Vienna and Padua. During his studies he practiced his literary work and after his return to Croatia he joined the Illyrian movement. At first he worked as a physician and from 1841 his main preoccupation was literary work.
Demeter began his literary career writing Greek poetry from a very early age. He wrote his first drama "Βιργινία" (Virginia) at the age of 16 (also in the Greek language). In his most known drama Teuta, which functioned as the first national drama of the Croats, he advocates the idea about Illyrian origin of all South Slavs. He also wrote short stories, feuilletons, literary critics, librettos for Vatroslav Lisinski opera's Ljubav i zloba and Porin and for his dramas Dramatička pokušenja I. (1834) and Dramatička pokušenja II. (1844). In his texts he tried to join the tradition of the old Croatian literature with tendentions in European drama. He mostly used historical subjects to express his patriotic aspirations and to speak out about the current social situation in society. His role in organizing the cultural life in Zagreb and Croatia was of extreme significance. He was also editor or various almanacs of patriotic orientation: Iskra, Südslavische Zeitung, Danica, Narodne novine and Hrvatski Sokol.
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