Svetomir Nikolajević ( Raduša, September 21, 1844 –

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

, April 18, 1922) was a

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

n writer, politician, scholar and

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...

candidate.

Biography

Nikolajević was born in Raduša near Ub, Serbia. Nikolajević was a professor at the Belgrade's ''Grandes écoles'' (''suplent Grandes écoles''), in the department of history of literature with a focus on the literature of the Slavs and Serbs. He was also a member of the

Serbian Royal Academy The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (; , SANU) is a national academy and the most prominent academic institution in Serbia, founded in 1841 as Society of Serbian Letters (, DSS). The Academy's membership has included Nobel laureates Ivo ...

and a Nominee for the

in 1915. Nikolajević taught comparative literature at the

University of Belgrade The University of Belgrade () is a public university, public research university in Belgrade, Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia. Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it me ...

, introducing sections on Shakespeare and Byron in his lectures. According to him, Shakespeare was a poet to whom psychological truth was the most important goal of dramatic art. Nikolajević served as the

Prime Minister of Serbia The prime minister of Serbia ( sr-Cyrl, премијер Србије, premijer Srbije; feminine gender, feminine: премијерка/premijerka), officially the president of the Government of the Republic of Serbia ( sr-Cyrl, председн ...

from April 3 to 27 October 1894, as the

Mayor of Belgrade The mayor of Belgrade () is the head of the City of Belgrade (the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia). The mayor acts on behalf of the city, and performs an Executive (government), executive function in th ...

and as the Minister of Internal Affairs. He was one of the founders of the

People's Radical Party The People's Radical Party (, abbr. NRS) was a populist political party in Serbia and later Yugoslavia. Led by Nikola Pašić for most of its existence, its ideological profile has significantly changed throughout its history, shifting from ...

and the

Society of Saint Sava The Society of Saint Sava or Saint Sava Society () was a Serbian non-governmental association with the aim of maintaining and protecting the Serb people in the Ottoman Empire, in Old Serbia and Macedonia, and in Austro-Hungarian Bosnia and Herzeg ...

. He was also one of the founders the

Masonic Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

lodge "Pobratim". Nikolajević was an early member of the Serbian

Red Cross The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

, founded by

Vladan Đorđević Ipokrat "Vladan" Đorđević (, sr-Cyrl, Владан Ђорђевић, 21 November 1844 – 31 August 1930) was a Serbian politician, diplomat, physician, prolific writer, and organizer of the State Sanitary Service. He held the post of mayor ...

during the Serbian-Ottoman War (1876–1877). In politics, Svetomir Nikolajević insisted that preparations for an agreement for a Macedonian settlement should continue in case the Prime Minister

Ilija Garašanin Ilija Garašanin ( sr-cyr, Илија Гарашанин; 28 January 1812 – 22 June 1874) was a Serbian statesman who served as the prime minister of Serbia between 1852 and 1853 and again from 1861 to 1867. Ilija Garašanin was conservati ...

was compelled to resign. Following the disappointing turn of events in 1885 (Serbo-Bulgarian War), the Serbian policy toward Macedonia acquired new momentum in 1886, with the establishment of the Society of Saint Sava. Elected as its president, was Svetomir Nikolajević, the founder of the society, who was known for his moderate views of Greek claims in Macedonia. Nikolajević was the first Serbian historian to write about

Rigas Feraios Rigas Feraios ( , sometimes ''Rhegas Pheraeos''; ) or Velestinlis (Βελεστινλής , also transliterated ''Velestinles''); 1757 – 24 June 1798), born as Antonios Rigas Velestinlis (), was a Greek writer, political thinker and revo ...

. By the early twentieth century, the first professor of the newly established Department of World Literature in the Belgrade School of Philosophy was Svetomir Nikolajević, later Professor in the School of Philology at the University of Belgrade. In his ''Listići iz književnosti'' (Leaves from Literature), published in two volumes (Belgrade, 1883 and 1888), Nikolajević rendered great services to the study of foreign writers and poets such as

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. Tacitus’ two major historical works, ''Annals'' ( ...

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

Ludovico Ariosto Ludovico Ariosto (, ; ; 8 September 1474 – 6 July 1533) was an Italian poet. He is best known as the author of the romance epic '' Orlando Furioso'' (1516). The poem, a continuation of Matteo Maria Boiardo's ''Orlando Innamorato'', describ ...

Montesquieu Charles Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (18 January 168910 February 1755), generally referred to as simply Montesquieu, was a French judge, man of letters, historian, and political philosopher. He is the principal so ...

Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...

, Luis de Camões and

Torquato Tasso Torquato Tasso ( , also , ; 11 March 154425 April 1595) was an Italian poet of the 16th century, known for his 1591 poem ''Gerusalemme liberata'' (Jerusalem Delivered), in which he depicts a highly imaginative version of the combats between ...

. That work was continued by Marko Car when Nikoajević entered politics. He died in

References

* Translated and adapted from

Jovan Skerlić Jovan Skerlić (, ; 20 August 1877 – 15 May 1914) was a Serbian writer and literary critic.''Jovan Skerlić u srpskoj književnosti 1877–1977: Zbornik radova''. Posebna izdanja, Institut za knjizevnost i umetnost, Belgrade. He is seen as o ...

's ''Istorija nove srpske književnosti'' / History of Modern Serbian Literature (Belgrade, 1921) pp. 436 and 437

External links

Biography online SASA
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nikolajevic, Svetomir 1844 births 1922 deaths People from Ub, Serbia People's Radical Party politicians Serbian writers Serbian Freemasons Prime ministers of Serbia Academic staff of the University of Belgrade Foreign ministers of Serbia Interior ministers of Serbia

Biography

See also

References

External links