Mihailo Vitković (

Eger Eger ( , ; ; also known by other #Names and etymology, alternative names) is the county seat of Heves County, and the second largest city in Northern Hungary (after Miskolc). A city with county rights, Eger is best known for Castle of Eger, its ...

, 25 August 1778- Pest, 9 September 1829) was a Serbian and Hungarian poet, translator and lawyer. The well-to-do Serbian lawyer was an active participant in the organization and efflorescence of Hungarian and Serbian cultural and literary development. He was a contemporary of

György Bessenyei ''György Bessenyei'' (1747–1811) was a Hungarian playwright and poet. Works * 1772 – Ágis tragédiája * 1777 – A magyar néző * 1777 – A filozófus * 1778 – Magyarság * 1779 – A holmi * 1781 – Egy magyar társaság iránt ...

Ferenc Kazinczy Ferenc Kazinczy (), (in older English: Francis Kazinczy, October 27, 1759 – August 23, 1831) was a Hungarian author, poet, translator, neologist, an agent in the regeneration of the Hungarian language and literature at the turn of the 19th c ...

, József Kármán, Ferenc Toldy,

Károly Kisfaludy Károly Kisfaludy (5 February 1788 – 21 November 1830) was a Hungarian dramatist and artist, brother of Sándor Kisfaludy. He was the founder of the national drama. Early life The youngest of eight children, his mother died in childbirth, ...

Mihály Csokonai Vitéz Mihály () is a Hungarian masculine given name. It is a cognate of the English Michael and may refer to: * Mihály András (1917–1993), Hungarian cellist, composer, and academic teacher * Mihály Apafi (1632–1690), Hungarian Prince of Transy ...

, József Bajza and Serbs

Jovan Pačić Jovan Pačić (November 6, 1771, Baja - December 4, 1849 Budapest) was a Serbian soldier, painter and poet. Jovan Pačić went to school in Kalocsa. In 1792 or 1793, he joined the army and fought against the French. In 1812 he suffered an injur ...

Jovan Muškatirović Jovan Muškatirović ( sr-cyr, Јован Мушкатировић, ; 1743 in Senta – 1809 in Buda) was a Serbian author, lawyer and educator who wrote in Serbian, Hungarian and Latin. Biography Muškatirović was born in 1743 into a Serb f ...

and

Lukijan Mušicki Lukijan Mušicki ( sr-cyr, Лукијан Мушицки, ; 27 January 1777 – 15 March 1837) was a Serbian Orthodox bishop, writer and poet. From 1828 he was bishop of Karlovac, now in Croatia. References Further reading * * * Jovan Sk ...

. Vitković carried an extensive correspondence with his prominent Hungarian contemporaries as well as his Serb writers and intellectuals. Two literatures—one Hungarian ( Mihály Vitkovics) -- and the other Serbian (Mihailo Vitković) -- claim him, and with equal right. He cultivated some of the genres (the epigramma, for example) with equal success in both Hungarian and Serbian. Mihailo Vitković started his career as a writer on the staff of a conservative Hungarian paper adopting a militant attitude with respect to the radical Hungarian reform programme. There can be no doubt as to his having been a bilingual poet and author: he wrote with equal ease in Hungarian and in Serbian, he was equally interested in Serbian and Hungarian literary events, and took an active part in the literary life of both. As for Mihailo Vitković, his background already was multilingual and multicultural. The Serbs sent their children to the Szeged Piarist School and then to one of the Protestant secondary schools in Debrecen and Sopron, or to other schools in the north of Hungary where they had more opportunities for better education. Vitković 's schooling was no different. In 1804 he graduated from the University of Pest with a law degree, passed his bar exam, and started his practice in the same city. Later, he became a member of the

Diet of Hungary The Diet of Hungary or originally: Parlamentum Publicum / Parlamentum Generale () was the most important political assembly in Hungary since the 12th century, which emerged to the position of the supreme legislative institution in the Kingdom ...

(Sabor).

Translations of novels

Serbian work that comes closest to Vitković trend is

Dositej Obradović Dositej Obradović ( sr-Cyrl, Доситеј Обрадовић, ; 17 February 1739 – 7 April 1811) was a Serbian writer, biographer, diarist, philosopher, pedagogue, educational reformer, linguist and the first minister of education of Se ...

's autobiography

Bildungsroman In literary criticism, a bildungsroman () is a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth and change of the protagonist from childhood to adulthood (coming of age). The term comes from the German words ('formation' or 'edu ...

. Mihailo Vitković, however, had another type of novel in mind. He was greatly attracted by the example of

, the most prominent figure of contemporary Hungarian literary life and

language reform Language reform is a kind of language planning by widespread change to a language. The typical methods of language reform are simplification and linguistic purism. Simplification regularises vocabulary, grammar, or spelling. Purism aligns the langu ...

and by the possibility of combining the sentimental novel (adapted to his mother tongue) with a good strong plot. Therefore, he made a Serbian "orchestration" of József Kármán's novel, (Fanny's Testament).

Translations of poetry

Vitković's translations of Serbian poetry – (1819) – introduce Hungarian writers to a heroic style that initiates a new wave of Hungarian poetry in the .

Works in Serbian

* (a translation of Marmontel's work) * (1812) * (epigram) * (1817, sentimental city poems) * (sentimental poems)

References

* Translated and adapted from Jovan Skerlić's ''Istorija nove srpske književnosti'' (Belgrade, 1914, 1921) pages 150-152. {{DEFAULTSORT:Vitkovic, Mihailo 1778 births 1829 deaths 19th-century Serbian poets 19th-century Hungarian poets Hungarian male poets Serbs of Hungary Serbian male poets 19th-century male writers Poets from the Austrian Empire