User:Md Sosostris/Драга Јовановић

Draga Jovanović (Serbian Cyrillic: Драга Јовановић; Kragujevac, 16 October 1885 – 1975) was a Sebian writer. Her works explore the problems of maternity, non-marital pregnancy in the traditional society, love, illness, and death.

Biography
Draga was born in 1885 in the town of Kragujevac to a family of artisans. Her mother’s name was Vasilija, and her father’s was Ilija. Draga had a brother named Miloš who died in infancy, and a sister named Danica. Since an early age, Draga showed interest in science and books.

During her studies in Switzerland, she met the famous Serbian writers Jovan Dučić and Toma Uskoković. Here she also met her future husband, Panta Jovanović. Together they moved to Skopje, where they got married in 1912 and had three children.

Education and Work
After completing her primary school education, Draga attended the Higher Female School in Kragujevac (1896-1902). Her studies continued at a grammar school in Belgrade, from which she graduated in 1906. After that, she received a stipend for literature studies in Geneva. She majored in literature and graduated in 1911.

In Geneva she received her first prize for her psychodramatic poem titled “The Night in Venice” (1911). The poem was written in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the foundation of the Female college. This was the first time that the prize has been awarded to a foreign student.

After World War I, Draga worked in a grammar school in Skopje (1918-1921), a trade school (1921-1925), and a trade academy (1925-1931). She retired as an inspector of the Vardar Banate’s Department for Trade and Industry (1935).

Critical Reception
The motives that Draga’s works focus on have been recognized as socially relevant even after World War II even though most of her novels were written decades earlier. One of the critics particularly mentions the motif of non-marital pregnancy as a “completely modern in both its structure and the psychology of a woman who lives through her darkest hours.” When it comes to Draga’s work in general, literary critic Jelena Reba summarizes the author’s significance in the following way: "“In the contemporary age, the voices of nameless women from the works, burdened by the experience of a series of conflicts in the Balkans, provide a disturbing axiom about war as a primarily female tragedy. It is her role that expresses the complexity of requirements to fight, but also keep the peace-oriented value system represented through the categories of home and family. The artistic tendency of Draga Jovanović was to transport the strategies of this fight and perserverance of values to a literary realm from the realm of female experience.“ "

Monographies

 * Без имена, 1931.
 * Сан летње ноћи; Ноћ у Венецији, 1933.
 * Мученице и грешнице: слике из ропства, 1937.
 * Мајка, 1960.
 * Верин случај, 1963.
 * Мозаик стварности и снова, 1965.
 * Јесења ноћ; Зимска ноћ, 1966.

Non-literary works

 * Писмо Живку Милићевићу, 1938.