Georgije Magarašević

Georgije Magarašević (Adaševci, 10 September 1793 – Novi Sad, 6 January 1830), Serbian writer, historian, editor and publisher, dramatist, translator and collector of folk proverbs. He belongs to the same generation of Serbian writers as Dimitrije Davidović, Teodor Pavlović, Danilo Medaković, all of whom expressed in some degree their indebtedness to Dositej Obradović and Vuk Karadžić. Georgije Magarašević can be said to have brought philosophy out of the lecture hall and into the market place of life. By understanding and combining what was great and valuable in those divided and scattered endeavours, he became the true successor of Dositej. He is also mentioned as Đorđe or Djordje Magarašević is some texts.

He was born on 10 September 1793 in the Serbian village of Adaševci in Srem, in what was once the Serbian Military Frontier and today is Vojvodina, Serbia. He received his education in the Gymnasium and Theological College of Sremski Karlovci under teachers who inspired him with the enduring love of the classical authors, as we see from his translations. He went to the university of Pest as a student of philosophy and natural sciences. In 1813 he became professor at Sremski Karlovci's Theological College and in 1817 professor of history, literature and philosophy at Novosadska Gimnazija (the Gymnasium of Novi Sad).

He died of consumption at Novi Sad on 6 January 1830. He was 35.

He was naturally attracted to the study of the ancient and modern literature and history of his people, and in 1822 he published the firstfruits of his researches, under the title "Nove istroiceske pamtivostonosti zivota Napoleona Bonaparta". Magarašević was the first to tackle the question of literary history in a more consistent manner than those before him. In his three letters about Serbian literature published in the "Serbski letopis" (Serbian Annals), Magarašević made a distinction between universal literary history, literary history of a certain epoch, and national literary history of the "fatherland". He participated in the debate between the proponents of the vernacular and those of the Slavonic-Serbian language, and he considered Dositej Obradovic the first modern Serbian writer, though he also accepted some of Vuk Karadzic's ideas on the vernacular language "revolution" (then taking place). According to Magarašević, national literature could not be written in a dead or artificial language, only in a living everyday one, because literature was the mirror of a nation, its culture, its literacy, and its character. Imitating old literary models could be rewarding and illuminating but could not match the original because it lacked a national context, language and subject.

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