Serbian literature

Serbian literature refers to literature written in Serbian and/or in Serbia.

The history of Serbian literature begins with two brothers, Saints Cyril and Methodius (815-885), who invented a Slavic alphabet based of Phoenician alphabet and ancient Greek characters, which in its final Cyrillic form is now being used as the official alphabet in Serbia, Republika Srpska, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Moldavia, and Russia. The brothers also translated the Bible into Old Church Slavonic. Their students continued to produce theological works from the 10th- and 11th centuries, developing in the 13th century by Saint Sava and his disciples. With the fall of Serbia and neighbouring countries in the 15th century, there is a gap in the literary history in the occupied land, however, Serbian literature continued uninterrupted in lands under foreign European vassalge. Revived in the 18th century by writers in Vojvodina, then under Austro-Hungarian rule. Serbia gains independence following the Serbian Revolution (1804–1815) and Serbian literature has since prospered.

Post-Medieval Serbian literature was dominated by folk songs and epics passed orally from generation to generation. Historic events, such as the "Battle of Kosovo" (Serbian: Бој на Косову / Boj na Kosovu) in the 14th century play a major role in the development of the Serbian epic poetry. The epic and lyrical poetry, the drama, and the prose of every class, all alike sound those notes, and the melody is triumphant or despairing according to the period of the nation's struggles against its many invaders. Less perhaps than any other European literature has Serbian literature been influenced by the literature of other lands. It mirrors throughout the simple, unsophisticated feeling and thoughts of men and women who love their country wholly, sincerely, faithfully, and are ready to lay down their lives to preserve its freedom. Here, if ever, the soul of a people is revealed in its most challenging time in history while attempting to extricate itself from centuries of Eastern (Turkish) and Western (Austrian, Hungarian, Venetian) oppression.

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