low the knee due to rheumatism. That’s why he used a prosthetic wooden leg ‘stilt’ extension to ease walking and, despite being crippled in such a way, he still man- aged to tour almost the whole of Europe. It is not as well known, however, that he lived in poverty and headed to Russia to earn a pension that he could use to provide for his family. From Vienna, where he lived with his wife Anna Maria Kraus, he set off for Krakow at the beginning of December 1818, reveals Dr Branko Zlatković, senior research associate at the Insti- tute for Literature and Art in Belgrade. He was warmly welcomed in Krakow, with his good scientific reputation having preceded him, regardless of the fact that there was no internet back then. “He was a daily guest at the home of Jerzy Samuel Bandtkie, the bibliographer, philologist and historian who was the administrator of the Krakow library. However, lame and in a strange world, without resources or a companion, his long journey seemed un- certain. He feared death, so he compiled a list of his debt- ors and creditors,” explains Zlatković. He then travelled to Warsaw, where he almost went ‘stir crazy’ because he had to spend the whole of Janu- ary awaiting a passport. It was while he was in Warsaw that he realised that an education abroad pays off more than studying at home, observing the luxurious life of his Polish colleague Samuel Gottlieb Linde. Vuk's wife, Anna, barely survived that time, by pawning his portrait and her own ring and most beautiful dresses. Apart from that, his son Milutin fell ill and Anna was expecting an- other child from a total of 12 little Karadžićs. Among all of them, only one daughter, Mina, and one son, Dimi- trije, survived, so it could be concluded that witches of- ten take the form of poverty. Arriving in Saint Petersburg, he was astounded by the chilling cold, from which “a man must be careful that (his) ears don’t drop off”. Speaking to Jernej Kopitar, the great linguist conveyed his fascination with ‘white nights’ in the following way: “There are almost no nights here. You can read until 11 o’clock without a candle”. He didn’t receive a Russian pension at that time, but he did get one later, in 1826. The next stop on his travels was Novgorod, followed by Moscow, where construction of the city was in full swing, then Kiev and Chișinău. “From there he headed, via Moldavia and Wallachia, to Banat, Srem and Slavo- nia, in order to tour and describe the Serbian monaster- ies there. However, in the Romanian city of Iași he en- countered the plague. He was terrified of the city ‘where all shops are closed and where every man fears the oth- er’,” recounts Zlatković, providing a picture that’s remi- niscent of today's pandemic. Longing for home after ten months of wandering, he also wanted “strained soup with rice and beef, and to- mato sauce accompanied by mead”, says Zlatković. Re- counting all the towns he’d passed through to Lukijan Mušicki, the poet and later bishop, Vuk received the fol- lowing response: “You bring honour not only to your head, but also to that wooden leg of yours, which – af-
Pod ruku sa Dositejem Muzej Vuka i Dositeja, kao deo Na - rodnog muzeja, posvećen je dvo- jici velikana srpske kulture, prvom – reformatoru srpskog jezika, a dru- gom – prosvetitelju i prvom srp- skom ministru prosvete. Vukova zbirka je starija i bogatija, bazira- na na poklonu njegove zaostavšti- ne Kraljevini Srbiji od Vukove ćerke Mine. U Dositejevoj zbirci nema lič- nih i porodičnih predmeta, već sa- mo likovnih priloga, arhivske gra- đe, delova prepiske i prvih izdanja njegovih knjiga, jer je ostalo izgo- relo u požaru 1813. Muzej se nala - zi u Gospodar Jevremovoj ulici, na broju 21, u zgradi nekadašnje Veli - ke škole, čiji je Dositej bio jedan od idejnih tvoraca, a Vuk jedan od pr - vih 20 učenika.
ARM-IN-ARM WITH DOSITEJ Belgrade’s Vuk & Dositej Museum, which forms part of the National Museum, is dedicated to two greats of Serbian culture: the first is the great reformer of the Serbian language; the second is the great educator and Serbia’s first education minister. Vuk's collection is older and richer, based on his legacy that was bequeathed to the Kingdom of Serbia by his daughter Mina. Dositej’s collection lacks any personal and family items, rather including only artistic contributions, archival material, partial correspondences and the first editions of his books, because the rest was destroyed by fire in 1813. The museum is located at 21 Gospodar Jevremova Street, in the building of the former Great School where Dositej was among the conceptual creators and Vuk was among the first 20 pupils.
Rodna kuća Vuka Karadžića u Tršiću The house in Tršić where Vuk Karadžić was born
ter your death – Serbian museums will vie for.” Writing further in the same correspondence, Mušicki suggest- ed in jest that he describe his odyssey with “the rest of us with healthy legs – we read”. Vuk's wooden appendage is today preserved as an exhibit in Belgrade’s Vuk & Dositej Museum, a fact that once prompted an outcry from Serbia’s only Nobel laure- ate, Ivo Andrić. Considering the exhibiting of the wood- en leg distasteful, Andrić protested with the words: “Well, for God's sake, he didn't use it to write.” Vuk Stefanović Karadžić, the originator of the prin- ciple, “write as you speak, and read as it is written”, died in Vienna in 1864, richer in admirers than monetary wealth. His glory lives on and increases thanks to the works that he left behind.
Greats » Velikani | 93
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator