Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/890

SERVIAN LITERATURE. 810 SERVIAN WALL. SERVIAN LITERATURE. 1. A.ncient Period jo the Knu ok the Foikteemu Cex- TURV. Tlic earliest literature was in Old C'liurch Slavie and consisted of eoclesiastieal books. The earliest extant nioniniients belong to the twelfth coiitury. Besides the books neeessary for the liturgy others were translated or com- piled from (ireck originals. A greater claim to the title of literary productions belongs to the lives of the saints' of the Servian Chuich and prominent Servian rulers and personages. Among the numerous political, diplomatic, and judicial monuments of the period, the so-called Viiwdolian Law and the Code of King Dushan are remark- able for th<' purity of the language employed and the Hood of light' they slicd on many points con- nected with the history and civilization of Servia. II. MioDLE or Dal'mati.x Pekiou. (Fifteenth to seventeenth century, inclusive.) Tlve half Sla- vic, half Italian, couunonwcalth of Bagusa or Dubrovnik, in Dalmatia, produced a nunilier of eminent writers. Among them Gundulitch { 1588- l(i:i8) (q.v.) with his heroic e])ic Os)iiiiii. Dioko- vitch ( 1.5(i;Mfi31), and the dramatist Palmotitch (1GOG-.37), author of a Cliristiad. deserve special mention. The lyric poet Katchitch-Miotchitch ( Iti90-17(i0) with his Discnurse is the connecting link between the old Dalmatian and the modern Servian literature. III. Modern Servian Period. (Eighteenth cen- tury.) The contact with Western Europe at the end of the seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth century resulted linguistically in a mixture of Servian, Old Slavic, and Russian forms. The names most ])roniinent during the eighteenth century are those of Yovan Rayitch (1726-1801), who wrote a Histon/ uf the Slaric Peoples, especially the Bulgarians, Croatians, and Servians (1768, last ed., 4 vols., Buda. 1823), and Obradovitch (1739-1811), the pioneer of modern Servian. The latter went back to the native popular tongue in his writings: Life and Adven- tures; Counsels of Common Sense, a course of practical ethics; and the Collection of Vavious Moral Trifles (Vienna, 1793). Though still laden W'ith Russian and other non-Servian expressions, his style is quite flexible, often graceful, and ex- hibits a preponderance of purely Servian words. IV. Nineteenth Century. The first half of the nineteenth century was marked by the literary labors of the great Karajitch (1787-1864) (q.v.), the "father of modern Servian." He employed the pure Servian of the common people (of the south Shtokavian dialect) with such art, force, and purity that it was finally accepted as the stand- ard. The sentimental novels of Milovan Vidako- vitch (1780-1841). the pseudoclassical odes of Mushitski (1777-1837), and the epics of Milu- tinovitch (1791-1848) gave way to the more national, realistic, and life-like writers of the stripe of Branko Raditcheviteh (1824-53). Of his poems the best are The Pupil's Partinri and The Path. Another distinguished poet is the last vladika of Montenegro, Peter II., Petrovitch Nyegosh (1813-51), whose most im- portant work is the Mountain Crouyn, a poem in dramatic form, relating the slaughter of the Mo- hammedanized Montenegrins by their Christian brethren, about the end of the eighteenth cen- tury. Zmaj Yovan Yovanovitch (see .Jovano- vic), born in 1833, is the greatest Servian poet living, Dyuro Yakshitch and Lazar Kostitch sharing with him the field of i)oetry. Among the novelists, Milan Jlilitehcvitch (q.v.) with bis Winter Evcninys holds the foremost place. Prince Nicholas of Montenegro, a poet of genuine in- spiration and strength, is the author of the na- tional (Montenegrin) hymn Thither! Thither.' In Croatia, whose literary language is the same as that of Servia (the written characters, how- ever, being different), the reforms of Karajitch found an enthusiastic supporter in the poet-puli- licist Ljudevit Gaj (1809-72). Of the other Croatian writers, hv far the greatest is Ian Mazuranie' (1814-90") (q.v.). chiefly known as an epic poet. The Ivric poet Preradovitch (1818- 72) and Bogovitcli (1816-93), the author of dramas and epics, also deserve mention. The scientific literature in Servian is of considerable extent. The oral (popular) literature falls into two main divisions, with regard to subject matter: (a) the so-called yunak (brave, herol songs. epic in character, relating the achievements of the national heroes; (b) the feminine, lyric in nature, dealing with the .softer sides of the na- tion's life, chiefly, but not exclusively, with the lot of woman. In the epic {yunak.) songs the four chief periods of Servian history are easily discernible: those composed in the earliest period, exhibiting the earlier strata of mythology over- run by and intermingled with later Christian elements; those narrating the glorious period of the Nemanya dynasty (from the twelfth to the fourteenth centui-yi ; the songs depicting the loss of Servia's independence at Kossovo (1389) and subsequent events: the songs of modern times of the struggle for independence at the outset of the nineteenth century, including commemorations of the great leader Kara or Black George, and the Montenegrin uprisings, etc. This fonn of literary production is still going on. Consult: Kapper. }'olkslieder der iSVrben( Leip- zig, 18.52) : Talvj. ^'olkslieder der Serben (2d ed., ib., 1853) ; id.. Historical View of the Languatirs and Literature of the Slavic yations (New Y'ork, 1850) : Miklosich, Beitrfiye zur Kenntnis der slawischen Volkspoesie (Vienna, 1870) ; Krauss, Sagen und Murchen der Sudslaieen (Leipzig, 1883-84) ; Manoilovitch, Seriokroatische Dich- tungen (3d ed., Vienna, 1888); Safarik, Ge- schiehte der siid.slawischen Literatur (Prague, 1865). SERVIAN POLITICAL PARTIES. See Political Parties, section Balkan States. SERVIAN WALL (Lat. agger Servii Tullii). The first inclosing wall of ancient Rome, the construction of which is assigned to Servius Tullius. The wall was constructed against one of the clifl's forming the face of the Capitoline, Quirinal, Oppian, Ca-lian, and Aventine Hills, crossing the narrowest parts of the valleys be- tween, and reinforced at its weakest points by an agger consisting of an embankment with an outer wall and ditch. The whole course of the Servian wall and the position of the gates have been defi- nitely ascertained by excavations made since 1860.