Joksim Nović-Otočanin (15 March 1807, in

Zalužnica Zalužnica ( sr-Cyrl, Залужница) is a village in the Gacka valley in present-day Lika-Senj County, Croatia. It is located around the road between the market town of Otočac and the Plitvice Lakes National Park. It was likely mainly popu ...

– 18 January 1868, in

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 ...

) was a Serbian adventurer, freedom fighter, and romantic writer of verse and prose.

Biography

Joksim Nović was born in Zalužnica, in

Lika Lika () is a traditional region of Croatia proper, roughly bound by the Velebit mountain from the southwest and the Plješevica mountain from the northeast. On the north-west end Lika is bounded by Ogulin-Plaški basin, and on the south-east by t ...

, on 15 March 1807. He completed his secondary education at the Serbian Gymnasium in Sremski Karlovci, studied philosophy at

Jena Jena (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 in ...

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

, and law in

Sárospatak Sárospatak (; ; Serbian language, Serbian: Муд Стреам; Slovak language, Slovakian: ''Šarišský Potok, Blatný Potok)'' History The area has been inhabited since ancient times. Sárospatak was granted town status in 1201 by Emeric ...

and in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. Very little is known about him after graduation. We know he was in the royal guard of

Mihailo Obrenović Mihailo ( sr-cyr, Михаило) is a South Slavic masculine given name. It is a variant of the Hebrew name ''Michael'', and its cognates include Mihajlo and Mijailo. Common as a given name among Serbs, it is an uncommon surname. Notable peopl ...

in the

Principality of Serbia The Principality of Serbia () was an autonomous, later sovereign state in the Balkans that came into existence as a result of the Serbian Revolution, which lasted between 1804 and 1817. Its creation was negotiated first through an unwritten agre ...

for a while. Then he went to

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

to fight the Ottoman occupiers and was captured. He was subsequently loaded with irons and sent a prisoner to a Turkish goal at

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

. For the next two years, he was kept in close confinement. When he was released he was famous for defying the authorities. In 1847 he wrote a book of verse called ''Lazarica'' and had it published in

. With Joksim Nović, now nicknamed ''Otočanin'' (the Incarcerated), a new voice seems to enter Serbian writing, or an old voice speaking virtually a new language. The advice was given to him years back by

Vuk Karadžić Vuk Stefanović Karadžić ( sr-Cyrl, Вук Стефановић Караџић, ; 6 November 1787 (26 October OS)7 February 1864) was a Serbian philologist, anthropologist and linguist. He was one of the most important reformers of the moder ...

(to write as common folk speak) and

Adam Mickiewicz Adam Bernard Mickiewicz (24 December 179826 November 1855) was a Polish poet, dramatist, essayist, publicist, translator and political activist. He is regarded as national poet in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. He also largely influenced Ukra ...

(the exiled Polish poet who suggested that he take the Kosovo cycle and turn it into a national epic) now bore fruit. Before the 1848 Revolution, the Serbs in the Habsburg Monarchy were being faced by grave challenges. Otočanin played an important part in the revolutionary events of 1848/4, first as a member of a delegation to

and later joining a group of Serbs formed to draft the constitution of

Serbian Vojvodina The Serbian Vojvodina () was a short-lived self-proclaimed autonomous province within the Austrian Empire during the Revolutions of 1848, which existed until 1849 when it was transformed into the new (official) Austrian province named Voivodes ...

. Prominent among them was the young lawyer Mojsije Georgijević of Osijek, and

physician writer Physician writers are physicians who write creatively in fields outside their practice of medicine. The following is a partial list of physician-writers by historic epoch or century in which the author was born, or published their first non-medic ...

Jovan Stejić Jovan Stejić (Stari Arad, Kingdom of Hungary, 1803 – Belgrade, Principality of Serbia, 23 November 1853) was a Serbian writer, philologist, critic of Vuk Karadžić's reform and medical doctor. Biography Jovan Stejić is the first Serb Doct ...

. Joksim Nović-Otočanin was exposed to some of the dangers of the 1848 Revolution, and, it is said, escaped getting killed only by his presence of mind. In 1849 he moved to

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 ...

, and resided in

till his death. There he wrote some of the most memorable romantic poems about

Hajduk Veljko Veljko Petrović ( sr-cyr, Вељко Петровић, ; c. 1780 – 1813), known simply as Hajduk Veljko (Хајдук Вељко, ǎjduːk v̞ɛ̌ːʎkɔ, was one of the '' vojvodas'' (military commanders) of the Serbian Revolutionary force ...

Vasa Čarapić Vasilije "Vasa" Čarapić ( sr-Cyrl, Василије "Васа" Чарапић; 1768–1806), known as the Dragon from Avala () and Vasso Tscharapitsch (German), was a Serbian voivode who participated in the First Serbian Uprising of the Serbian ...

Janko Katić Janko Katić ( sr-cyr, Јанко Катић; fl. 1795–1806†) was a Serbian voivode and one of the organizers of the First Serbian Uprising (1804–1813). He participated in the uprising since day one, and was an important ''oborknez'' of the ...

Stanoje Glavaš Stanoje Stamatović ( sr-cyr, Станоје Стаматовић), known as Stanoje Glavaš (Станоје Главаш; 21 February 1763 – 15 February 1815) was a Serbian hajduk and hero in the First Serbian Uprising. Life Glavaš was born i ...

(1860–61),

Ilija Birčanin Ilija Birčanin ( sr-cyr, Илија Бирчанин; 12 August 1764 – 4 January 1804) was a Serbian '' knez'' (Prince) who was killed during the '' Slaughter of the Dukes'', the incident that sparked the First Serbian Uprising of the Serbian R ...

(1862), ''Dušanija: Znati Dogadjaji za Vremena Carstva'' (Dušan and the Matter of the Serbian Empire; 1863), ''Moskovija: Krimski Rat'' (Moscow: the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

; 1863), ''Karađorđe izbavitelj Srbije'' (Karageorge: Emancipator of Serbia, 1865).

Prose

* ''Sila turči Bosnu'' (1864) * ''Kapetan Radič Petrović i pokrštenica Zorka'' (1866) * ''Hajdučki život'' (1861-1863) * ''Starine od Starina Novaka ili školovanje narodnjeg pjevanja i pripovijedanja'' (1867) * Translation of Homer's Illyad (unfinished)

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'' (Belgrade, 1914, 1921) pages 292-294. * Milan Culjak: "Bosanske godine" Joksima Novica Otocanina, Zbornik Matice srpske za knjizevnost i jezik knj. XLIII sv. 2-3/1995 {{DEFAULTSORT:Novic-Otocanin, Joksim 1807 births 1868 deaths 19th-century Serbian people Serbs of Croatia Habsburg Serbs People from Vrhovine Serbian writers Writers from the Austrian Empire