A new stamp issue commemorating to writers.
Desanka Maksimovic
Desanka Maksimović (Serbian Cyrillic: Десанка Максимовић; 16 May 1898 – 11 February 1993) was a Serbian poet, writer and translator. Her first works were published in the literary journal Misao in 1920, while she was studying at the University of Belgrade. Within a few years, her poems appeared in the Serbian Literary Herald, Belgrade's most influential literary publication. In 1925, Maksimović earned a French Government scholarship for a year's study at the University of Paris. Upon her return, she was appointed a professor at Belgrade's elite First High School for Girls, a position she would hold continuously until World War II.
In 1933, Maksimović married Sergej Slastikov, a Russian émigré writer. After being dismissed from her post at the high school by the Germans in 1941, she was reduced to a state of poverty and forced to work odd jobs to survive the three-year occupation. She was only permitted to publish children's literature during this period, but secretly compiled a collection of patriotic poems, which were not published until after the war. Among these was Krvava bajka (A Bloody Tale), about the Wehrmacht's killing of schoolchildren in the Kragujevac massacre. It was recited extensively in post-war commemorative ceremonies and became one of the best known Serbian-language poems.
To mark her 60th birthday, Maksimović was named the recipient of a string of honours and awards in 1958. In 1964, she published one of her most acclaimed works, a volume of reflective poetry entitled Tražim pomilovanje (I Seek Clemency). The work's veiled critique of the Tito government made it especially popular. The following year, she became a full-fledged member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. Following her husband's death in 1970, Maksimović's poetry increasingly began to revolve around the subject of human mortality. Maksimović travelled extensively in the 1970s and 1980s, and some of her visits abroad inspired several of her works. She became involved in efforts to combat government censorship in the early 1980s and was active until her death in 1993.
Maksimović was the first female Serbian poet to gain widespread acceptance within Yugoslav literary circles and among the general public. One literary scholar notes that she served as an example for other Serbian women wishing to take up the craft. Maksimović's reputation, which was such that most of her contemporaries referred to her simply by her first name, has led one author to describe her as "the most beloved Serbian poet of the twentieth century".
Radoje Domanovic
Radoje Domanović (Serbian Cyrillic: Радоје Домановић; February 16, 1873 – August 17, 1908) was a Serbian writer and teacher, most famous for his satirical short stories. His adult years were a constant fight against tuberculosis. This circumstance of his life, and the affection which he inspired in all who knew him, created an aura of romanticism and sentimentality which stand in contrast to his literary accomplishments as a satirist and a powerful critic of the contemporary Serbian society.
Domanović was born in the village of Ovsište which is located in Topola municipality, Šumadija District. He attended a gymnasium in Kragujevac. Two of his teachers, Pera Đorđević and Sreten Stojković, who were followers of Svetozar Marković, were arrested for an attempt to take control of the local government and displaying a red flag. From 1890 to 1894, Domanović studied history and philology at Belgrade's Grande École. He read some of his first works to the members of a student organization Pobratimstvo (Bloodbrothers). Domanović was among the first writers to begin to produce an independent expression of their own urban experience in their new works, and it was not long before the term "Belgrade prose" (beogradska proza) was adopted to refer to this trend in which Belgrade played an important role, not just as the setting for action but almost as an actor itself.
Domanović is considered the best satirist in all Serbian literature during the turn of the 20th century. A gifted writer interested in politics, Domanović wielded his implacable pen against the injustices of a democracy in the making.
Writing humorous and satirical stories, Domanović is particularly remembered for his Kraljević Marko po drugi put među Srbima (Kraljević Marko for the Second Time among the Serbs). Re-inventing the folk hero Prince Marko, Domanović places him in the modern world. Hearing the wails and laments of his fellow Serbs, Marko asks permission from God to return to earth that he might help them. His wish is granted, and the brave and strong Marko finds himself in Belgrade. Unfortunately, his way of dealing with situations—by striking his enemies with his heavy mace—is not appreciated either by the authorities or by the ordinary men and women in the street. There are many lessons that Marko must learn, if he is to succeed.
In 1893, Domanović wrote and published his first work, a short story Na mesečini (In the Moonlight), in a popular magazine for intellectuals called Javor. Two years later, he got his first tenure as a lecturer in a gymnasium in Pirot. There he met Jaša Prodanović, who helped found the Serbian independent Radical Party in 1901. At that time, Domanović joined Republikanska stranka (The Republican Party), and married Natalija Ristić. He took an active part to maintain the doctrine of republicanism during the time of the monarchy. He was threatened repeatedly not to criticize The Establishment. After nine months, he was transferred, as a punishment on request of his political rivals, to a gymnasium in Vranje. On the same count, after a year in Vranje, he was transferred to Leskovac. Following a critical speech on the position of teachers in 1898, he was dismissed from his post, along with his wife. As a response, he wrote a short story Ukidanje strasti (The Tearing of Passion).
In 1899, he published two collections of short stories and his famous story Danga, perhaps an inspiration for Yevgeny Zamyatin's We. The following year, he got a well-paying, government job as a clerk in the State's Archive. In 1902, after he published Stradija, he was again dismissed from his post. In the mythical land of "Stradije" Domanović shows how police spared voters from troubling themselves to cast votes in free elections while government ministers played musical chairs. (Even at the end of the twentieth century there is nothing to add to the criticism of the mentality of slavery, of political deceit, and of the propaganda that always succeeds). Domanović started writing editorials for magazine Odjek (Echo). After the coup in 1903, Domanović returned to his post, and soon got a stipend to work on his stories. It was rumoured that the coup saved his life, since he was on a list for liquidation of the old government. In 1904, he started a magazine Stradija, that had 35 editions. The following year, he was appointed to the State Press corps. He died in 1908 of tuberculosis survived by his wife, son Zoran and daughter Danica.
