Grigorije "Grigor" Vitez ( sh-Cyrl, Григорије "Григор" Витез; 15 February 1911 – 23 November 1966) was a Yugoslav writer and translator. He is best remembered as the author of children's poetry and other forms of literature for children and youth.

Biography

He was born to a

Serb The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language. The majority of Serbs live in their na ...

Зорица Турјачанин, ''Свежањ нових кључева. Студије и есеји из књижевности за дјецу'', Бања Лука 1999, pp. 71. family from north

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see #Name, names in other languages) is one of the four historical region, historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of ...

, which had previously used the surname Alavanja. One of his ancestors held the honorary title of knight ( sh, vitez), which became the family surname. He went to elementary school in

Okučani Okučani is a village and municipal centre in western Slavonia, Croatia. It is located 19 km southeast of Novska and 17 km west of Nova Gradiška.Nova Gradiška Nova Gradiška is a town located in the Brod-Posavina County of Croatia, population 14,229 (2011). It is located in the historic region of Slavonia, near the border to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The first word in the name means ''New'', and there ...

. As a high school student he started collection

folk poetry Folk poetry (sometimes referred to as ''poetry in action'') is poetry that is part of a society's folklore, usually part of their oral tradition. When sung, folk poetry becomes a folk song. Description Folk poetry in general has several characteri ...

of the area. Vitez went on to finish the state school for teachers. In 1933, he joined the

Communists Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a so ...

and fought in the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

as a member of the

Yugoslav Partisans The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Slovene: , or the National Liberation Army, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska (NOV), Народноослободилачка војска (НОВ); mk, Народноослобод ...

. After the World War II, he worked in the Ministry of Education and as editor for ''Mladost'' publishing house, in charge for children's and youth edition. Vitez was also working for the ''Novo pokoljenje ''publishing company. He edited thirteen publishing series for children and youth. When

Borislav Pekić Borislav Pekić ( sr-cyr, Борислав Пекић, ; 4 February 1930 – 2 July 1992) was a Serbian and Yugoslav writer and political activist. He was born in 1930, to a prominent family in Montenegro, at that time part of the Kingdom of Yugo ...

authored an anthology of children's poetry, Vitez criticised him because, even though

Serbian literature Serbian literature ( sr-Cyrl, Српска књижевност), refers to literature written in Serbian and/or in Serbia and all other lands where Serbs reside. The history of Serbian literature begins with the independent works from the Nema ...

for children is ''

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...

'' richer than Croatian, he should have included more poets from

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

. Vitez was a prolific translator, mostly from

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

. He translated poems by

Alexander Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...

Mikhail Lermontov Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov (; russian: Михаи́л Ю́рьевич Ле́рмонтов, p=mʲɪxɐˈil ˈjurʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈlʲɛrməntəf; – ) was a Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called "the poet of the Caucas ...

Boris Pasternak Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (; rus, Бори́с Леони́дович Пастерна́к, p=bɐˈrʲis lʲɪɐˈnʲidəvʲɪtɕ pəstɛrˈnak; 30 May 1960) was a Russian poet, novelist, composer and literary translator. Composed in 1917, Pa ...

Sergei Yesenin Sergei Alexandrovich Yesenin ( rus, Сергей Александрович Есенин, p=sʲɪrˈɡʲej ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪtɕ jɪˈsʲenʲɪn; ( 1895 – 28 December 1925), sometimes spelled as Esenin, was a Russian lyric poet. He is one o ...

Vladimir Mayakovsky Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky (, ; rus, Влади́мир Влади́мирович Маяко́вский, , vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr vlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvʲɪtɕ məjɪˈkofskʲɪj, Ru-Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky.ogg, links=y; – 14 Apr ...

Eduard Bagritsky Eduard Georgyevich Bagritsky ( rus, Эдуа́рд Гео́ргиевич Багри́цкий, p=ɨdʊˈard ɡʲɪˈorɡʲɪjɪvʲɪdʑ bɐˈɡrʲitskʲɪj, a=Eduard Gyeorgiyevich Bagriczkiy.ru.vorb.oga; February 16, 1934) was an important Russia ...

Vera Inber Vera Mikhailovna Inber (russian: link=no, Вера Михайловна Инбер), born Shpenzer (10 July 1890, Odessa11 November 1972, Moscow), was a Russian and Soviet poet and writer. Biography Her father Moshe owned a scientific publishing ...

Alexey Surkov Alexey Alexandrovich Surkov (russian: Алексе́й Алекса́ндрович Сурко́в; October 13, 1899 in Yaroslavl Province, Russian Empire – June 14, 1983 in Moscow, USSR) was a Russian poetry, Russian Soviet poet, editor, lite ...

, Mikhail Golodny, Stepan Shchipachev,

Aleksandr Tvardovsky Aleksandr Trifonovich Tvardovsky ( rus, links=no, Александр Трифонович Твардовский, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr ˈtrʲifənəvʲɪtɕ tvɐrˈdofskʲɪj; – 18 December 1971) was a Soviet poet and writer and chief editor of ' ...

etc., and prose from the works of

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...

Anton Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; 29 January 1860 Old Style date 17 January. – 15 July 1904 Old Style date 2 July.) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career ...

Maxim Gorky Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (russian: link=no, Алексе́й Макси́мович Пешко́в; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (russian: Макси́м Го́рький, link=no), was a Russian writer and social ...

and

Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy (russian: link= no, Алексей Николаевич Толстой; – 23 February 1945) was a Russian writer who wrote in many genres but specialized in science fiction and historical novels. Despite having ...

. He also translated Pavel Golia,

Fran Levstik Fran Levstik (28 September 1831 – 16 November 1887) was a Slovene writer, political activist, playwright and critic. He was one of the most prominent exponents of the Young Slovene political movement. Life and work Levstik was born in 18 ...

Srečko Kosovel Srečko Kosovel () (18 March 1904 – 26 May 1926) was a Slovenian poet, now considered one of central Europe's major modernist poets.

Matjaž Klopčič Matjaž Klopčič (4 December 1934 – 15 December 2007) was a Slovenian film director and screenwriter. He directed 28 films between 1959 and 2005. His film ''Heritage'' ( sl, Dediščina) was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at ...

Alojz Gradnik Alojz Gradnik (August 3, 1882 – July 14, 1967) was a Slovenian poet and translator. Life Gradnik was born in the village of Medana in the Gorizia Hills region, in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire and is today in the Municipality of ...

, Cene Vipotnik,

Tone Pavček Tone Pavček (; 29 September 1928 – 21 October 2011) was one of the most influential Slovene poets, translators, and essayists from the first post-war generation. He published numerous collections of poetry, well received by readers and cri ...

Janez Menart Janez Menart () (29 September 1929 – 22 January 2004) was a Slovene poet, best known for his Intimism (Slovene poetry), Intimist poetry. He translated a number of classic French poetry, French and English poetry and drama wor ...

and other

Slovenian Slovene or Slovenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Slovenia, a country in Central Europe * Slovene language, a South Slavic language mainly spoken in Slovenia * Slovenes The Slovenes, also known as Slovenians ( sl, Sloven ...

poets. Alongside Russian and Slovenian he translated works from

French language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...

. He held a correspondence with

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

winning writer

. Vitez died at the age of 55 and was buried in his hometown.

Prosvjeta The Serbian Cultural Society "Prosvjeta" (abbreviated: SKD "Prosvjeta" or sr-cyrl, СКД "Просвјета") in Zagreb, Croatia is an independent, non-governmental cultural and scientific organization that takes special responsibility for pro ...

published his selected works in 2011, marking 100 years of his birth. Most of the works by Serbian writers was removed from the textbooks and schools from Croatia during and after the

Croatian War of Independence The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between Croat forces loyal to the Government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY)—and the Serb-controlled Yugosl ...

, but Vitez's works was continuously part of the school curriculum in Croatia. Grigor Vitez Award for literature written for children was established in 1967. It is the oldest awards of its kind in modern-day Croatia. He was awarded the Yugoslav Order of Labour, Order of the Republic and Award of the city of Zagreb.„Григор Витез и његово књижевно дјело“, ''Просвјета. Мјесечник Српског културног друштва Просвјета'' (27) 1967 Schools in

Osijek Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...

, Sveti Ivan Žabno, Poljana and

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

are named after him, as well as the local library in

Gornji Bogićevci Gornji Bogićevci is a municipality in Brod-Posavina County, Croatia. There are 1,975 inhabitants of which 89% declare themselves Croats The Croats (; hr, Hrvati ) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share a common Croatian ancestry, cu ...

Works

* ''San boraca u zoru'', Nakl. Navod Hrvatske, Zagreb, 1948 * ''Pjesme'', Zora Državno izdavačko poduzeće Hrvatske, Zagreb, 1950 * ''Naoružane ruže'', Kultura, Zagreb, 1955 * ''Vesele zamke'', Mladost, Zagreb, 1955 * ''Prepelica'', Prosvjeta, Zagreb, 1956 * ''Lirika o Slavoniji'', urednik, Slavonija danas, Osijek, 1956 * ''Povjerenje životu'', Narodna prosvjeta, Sarajevo, 1957 * ''Sto vukova, i druge pjesme za djecu'', "Svjetlost", Sarajevo, 1957 * ''Perzijske bajke'', Mladost, Zagreb, 1958. * ''Kad bi drveće hodalo'', Mladost, Zagreb, 1959 * ''Kao lišće i trava: pjesme'', Matica hrvatska, Zagreb, 1960 * ''Maksimir'', Mladost, Zagreb, 1960 * ''Iza brda plava: izbor pjesama za djecu'', Matica hrvatska, Zagreb, 1961 * ''Jednog jutra u gaju'', editor, 1961 * ''Hvatajte lopova'', "Svjetlost", Sarajevo, 1964 * ''Gdje priče rastu'', Mladost, Zagreb, 1965. * ''Zekina kuća'', Mladost, Zagreb, 1965 * ''Igra se nastavlja'', posthumous, 1967 * ''Pjesme četiri vjetra'', editor, 1968 * ''Nevidljive ptice'', Mozaik knjiga, 2002

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vitez, Grigorije Serbian writers Croatian writers 20th-century Serbian people 20th-century Croatian people 1911 births 1966 deaths People from Brod-Posavina County Serbs of Croatia