Jakov Ignjatović ( sr-cyr, Јаков Игњатовић; 8 December 1822 – 5 July 1889) was a

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

and

prose Prose is language that follows the natural flow or rhythm of speech, ordinary grammatical structures, or, in writing, typical conventions and formatting. Thus, prose ranges from informal speaking to formal academic writing. Prose differs most n ...

writer, who primarily wrote in

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * Pertaining to Serbia in Southeast Europe; in particular **Serbs, a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans ** Serbian language ** Serbian culture **Demographics of Serbia, includes other ethnic groups within the co ...

but also in Hungarian. He was also an active member of

Matica Srpska The Matica srpska ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Матица српска, Matica srpska, ) is the oldest Serbian language independent, non-profit, non-governmental and cultural-scientific Serbian national institution. It was founded on June 1, 1826, in Pest, ...

Biography

Jakov Ignjatović was born in

Szentendre Szentendre, also known as Saint Andrew is a riverside town in Pest County, Hungary, between the capital city Budapest and Pilis Mountains, Pilis-Visegrád Mountains. The town is known for its museums (most notably the :hu: Szentendrei Szabadtéri ...

on 8 December 1822. He finished elementary school in Szentendre and studied at the Gymnasium in

Vác Vác (; ; ; ) is a thousand-year old city in Pest county in Hungary with approximately 35,000 inhabitants. The archaic spelling of the name is ''Vácz''. Location Vác is located north of Budapest on the eastern bank of the Danube river, below t ...

Esztergom Esztergom (; ; or ; , known by Names of European cities in different languages: E–H#E, alternative names) is a city with county rights in northern Hungary, northwest of the capital Budapest. It lies in Komárom-Esztergom County, on the righ ...

and Pest. He enrolled in Law School at Pest, but left the university and joined the

hussar A hussar, ; ; ; ; . was a member of a class of light cavalry, originally from the Kingdom of Hungary during the 15th and 16th centuries. The title and distinctive dress of these horsemen were subsequently widely adopted by light cavalry ...

s. Later, he graduated law in

Kecskemét Kecskemét ( ) is a city with county rights in central Hungary. It is the List of cities and towns of Hungary, eighth-largest city in the country, and the county seat of Bács-Kiskun County, Bács-Kiskun. Kecskemét lies halfway between the ca ...

, where he started his law practice in 1847 for a short time, but during the

Hungarian revolution of 1848 The Hungarian Revolution of 1848, also known in Hungary as Hungarian Revolution and War of Independence of 1848–1849 () was one of many Revolutions of 1848, European Revolutions of 1848 and was closely linked to other revolutions of 1848 in ...

in a Romantic fervor, he joined Hungarian forces in fighting against the

Austrians Austrians (, ) are the citizens and Nationality, nationals of Austria. The English term ''Austrians'' was applied to the population of Archduchy of Austria, Habsburg Austria from the 17th or 18th century. Subsequently, during the 19th century, ...

, in contradiction to what most

Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian Cultural heritage, ancestry, Culture of Serbia, culture, History of Serbia, history, and Serbian lan ...

and

Croats The Croats (; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries in Central Europe, Central and Southeastern Europe who share a common Croatian Cultural heritage, ancest ...

in Austria of the time did, siding with the empire. He was briefly arrested when the revolution was suppressed. After the Hungarian defeat, Ignjatović fled to

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 ...

. There he worked as a journalist till 1850, and later, he traveled the world. He returned to Hungary in 1853 and took an active part in the cultural and political life of

Serbs in Vojvodina The Serbs of Vojvodina are the largest ethnic group in this northern province of Serbia. For centuries, Vojvodina was ruled by several European powers, but Vojvodina Serbs never assimilated into cultures of those countries. Thus, they have consis ...

His efforts to secure equal educational privileges for the

Slav The Slavs or Slavic people are groups of people who speak Slavic languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout the northern parts of Eurasia; they predominantly inhabit Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, and N ...

and

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

nationalities in the Austrian dominions brought him into disfavor with the German element. He was successively editor of ''"Letopis Matice srpske"'' (Serbian Annals), the ''"Srpske novine"'' (Serbian News), and the ''"Nedeljni list"'' (Weekend Magazine), between 1854 and 1856, and worked as a clerk in

Sremski Karlovci Sremski Karlovci ( sr-Cyrl, Сремски Карловци, ) is a town and municipality located in the South Bačka Districtautonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. It is situated on the banks of the Danube, from Novi Sad. According to the 202 ...

and

Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; #Name, see below for other names) is the List of cities in Serbia, second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pannoni ...

. He joined

Svetozar Miletić Svetozar Miletić ( sr-cyr, Светозар Милетић; 22 February 1826 – 4 February 1901) was a Serbian lawyer, journalist, author and politician who served as the mayor of Novi Sad between 1861 and 1862 and again from 1867 to 1868. ...

's People's Party in its political fight against Austria and was a member of the

Hungarian diet 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 ...

twice. After the People's Party split with Hungary, he remained loyal to the Hungarian authorities, like Janos Damjanich and Sebo Vukovics, and unlike the majority of the Serbs living in Vojvodina. And because of that, Ignjatović was seen as a traitor by his compatriots, and lived in isolation until death. This had a bad influence on his writing career, but he still managed to leave a literary legacy behind him just the same (among the Hungarians and Serbs alike). Ignjatović turned to novel writing rather late in life, perhaps influenced by the second half of the nineteenth century, then under the domination of science. Like most writers of the day, he sought to utilize as much as possible the facts and theories of science and to make the novel or drama an instrument of scientific observation and discussion. The Realists purported to create a school of "applied literature". The ultimate goal of the school was, first, exact and almost photographic delineation of the accidents of modern life, and secondly, non-suppression of the essential features and functions of that life which are usually suppressed. Jakov Ignjatović, Djordje Rajković (who collaborated with Ignjatović in 1885 and 1886 on a magazine called ''Bršljan'') and

Svetozar Marković Svetozar Marković ( sr-Cyrl, Светозар Марковић, ; 9 September 1846 – 26 February 1875) was a Serbian political activist, literary critic and socialist philosopher. He developed an activistic anthropological philosophy ...

belonged to this movement. Ignjatović was elected 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 ...

in 1888. At the end of life, possibly as a result of deteriorating health, he lost most of his fortune and died as a

vagrant Vagrancy is the condition of wandering homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants usually live in poverty and support themselves by travelling while engaging in begging, scavenging, or petty theft. In Western countries, ...

in 1899.

Works

Ignjatović did not hesitate to draw largely on his own personal adventures and profess to portray human life, not as a fairy-tale, but as "stuff on which to try the soul's strength." Among Jakov Ignjatović's best novels are ''Vasa Rešpekt'' (Basil the Respectable), ''Večiti Mladoženja'' (The Eternal Groom), ''Patnica'' (A Burdened Woman), ''Trpen Spašen'' (The Suffered Saved), and ''Milan Nerandžić''. All these novels form a prominent landmark in the development of Serbian prose fiction. The plots of Ignjatović's novels are ingenious in conception and skillfully crafted. He has no pretensions to the brilliance of

Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; ; (; () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright of Ukrainian origin. Gogol used the grotesque in his writings, for example, in his works " The Nose", " Viy", "The Overcoat", and " Nevsky Prosp ...

(with whom he's been often compared), but his amusing dialogue arises naturally out of the situation, and its wit is never strained. ''Vasa Rešpekt'' (1875) opens with a praise of the town of Szentandre, the location in which this story is framed. The hero of the

embedded story A story within a story, also referred to as an embedded narrative, is a literary device in which a character within a Narrative, story becomes the narrator of a second story (within the first one). Multiple layers of stories within stories are ...

, Vasa Ognjan, leaves the town early, lives most of his life in perpetual poverty, and gets into conflict with the authorities, but distinguishes himself as somewhat of a daredevil in battles. In 1848, he fights on the Hungarian side, though not out of political conviction, and he asks to be transferred when he is supposed to fight his fellow Serbs. If ''Vasa Rešpekt'' is a romantic story revolving around an identity crisis, ''Večiti mladoženja'' (1878) is a humorous story about two generations of Szendendre Serbs. The first describes in great detail the preparation and departure of a well-to-do merchant on a trip to Cracow fair of 1812; the second part is focused on his no-good sons who fight among themselves for the inheritance and finally waste it. His characters are original, and the unexpected incidents and adventures in which they are mixed up are represented in an irresistibly comic manner by a man who thoroughly understood the resources of the theatre as well. The spontaneity and verve with which his adventurous characters are drawn have suggested that in his favourite type he was describing himself and all those he knew around him, however intimately. The code of morals followed by these characters is open to criticism, but they are human and genial in their roguery, and compare far from unfavourably with the cynical creations of contemporary novels.

Bibliography

Novels: *''"Đurađ Branković"'' (''

Đurađ Branković Đurađ Vuković Branković ( sr-Cyrl, Ђурађ Вуковић Бранковић, ; 1377 – 24 December 1456) served as the Serbian Despot from 1427 to 1456, making him one of the final rulers of medieval Serbia. In 1429, Branković was form ...

'') *''"Kraljevska snaha"'' (''Royal Daughter-in-law'') *''"Deli-Bakić"'' - unfinished *''"Čudan svet"'' (''Strange World'') *''"Vasa Rešpekt"'' (''Basil the Respectable'') *''"Večiti mladoženja"'' (''Eternal Bridegroom'') *''"Stari i novi majstori"'' (''Old and New Masters'') *''"Patnica"'' *''"Trideset godina iz života Milana Narandžića"'' (''Thirty Years of the Life of Milan Narandžić'') Short stories: *''"Krv za rod"'' (''Blood for the People'') *''"Manzor i Džemila"'' (''Manzor & Džemila'')

References

* Adapted from Serbian Wikipedia: Јаков Игњатовић * 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. 366–373. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ignjatovic, Jakov 1822 births 1889 deaths Novelists from Austria-Hungary People from Szentendre Matica srpska Writers from the Austrian Empire

Biography

Works

Bibliography

See also

References