Йован Йованович Змай: Жизнь и творчество сербского поэта и врача

Serbian poet and physician

Jovan Jovanović Zmaj (, pronounced ; 24 November 1833 – 1 June 1904) was a Serbian poet. Jovanović worked as a physician; he wrote in many poetry genres, including love, lyric, patriotic, political, and youth, but he remains best known for his children's poetry. His nursery rhymes have entered the Serbian national consciousness and people sing them to their children without knowing who wrote them. Jovanović also translated the works of some of the great poets, such as Russians Lermontov and Pushkin, Germans Goethe and Heine, and the American Longfellow. Jovanović's nickname Zmaj or Змај (dragon) derives from the 3 May 1848 assembly.

Zmaj was born in Novi Sad, which was then part of Batsch Bodrog County (Kingdom of Hungary, Austrian Empire; today in Serbia), on 24 November 1833. His family was old and noble, and had roots in modern day North Macedonia. His father came from a family of Aromanian descent, which is something that neither Zmaj nor other people from his epoch discussed, probably meaning that his family was fully assimilated. The Jovanovićs lived in Vojvodina as of the 18th century. In his early childhood he showed a desire to learn by heart the Serbian national songs that were recited to him. As a child he began to compose poems. He finished elementary school in the town, and attended secondary school in Halas and Preßburg (today Bratislava), later studying law in Ofenpesth (Budapest), Prague and Vienna. During this period he wrote poems and prose, including short novels. Zmaj died on 1 June 1904 in Sremska Kamenica, Serbia. Tesla himself translated some poems by Zmaj.

The Zmaj Children Games (Змајеве дечје игре/Zmajeve dečje igre), one of the biggest festivals for children in Serbia, are named after Jovan Jovanović Zmaj. The town of Sremska Kamenica bore the name Zmajeva Kamenica (Zmaj's Kamenica) in his honour. He is included in lists of The 100 most prominent Serbs. During his lifetime, Zmaj had acquired the title of the "people's poet", an expression of esteem also befitting the title of Poet laureate. August Šenoa wrote highly of his poetry. Literary historian Jovan Deretić considered Zmaj to be one of the central figures of Serbian Romanticism and Serbian literature of the second half of the 19th century. Deretić praised his poems, translations and satirical works.