Sekulić, Isadora (1877–1958)

Serbian short-story writer, novelist, and critic. Name variations: Isidora Sekulic. Born in 1877 in Mošorin,Bačka; died in 1958; trained to be a teacher; held Ph.D. from a German university.

Selected writings:

Saputnici (Fellow Travelers, 1913); Pisma iz Norveške (Letters from Norway, 1914); Djakon Bogorodičinecrkve (The Deacon of the Church of Our Lad, 1919); Kronika palanačkog groblja (The Chronicle of a Provincial Graveyard, 1940); Njegošu knjiga duboke odanosti (A Book of Deep Homage to Njegoš, 1951); Mir I nemir (Peace and Unrest, 1957); Govor I jezik (Speech and Language, 1956).

Isadora Sekulić was born in Mošorin, Bačka, but traveled extensively throughout Norway, France, and England. Through her travels, she broadened her cultural awareness and perfected her knowledge of several foreign languages. She trained to be a teacher and received a Ph.D. from a German university.

Sekulić's lyrical Saputnici (Fellow Travelers, 1913) established her reputation as a fresh voice in Serbian literature. For her second work, Pisma iz Norveške (Letters from Norway, 1914), she was criticized by one critic for her seeming indifference to the fate of Serbia. But her third book, the novella Djakon Bogorodičinecrkve (The Deacon of the Church of Our Lad, 1919), demonstrated her identification with Serbian Orthodox tradition. That affiliation can be seen in her later works as well, such as Kronika palanačkog groblja (The Chronicle of a Provincial Graveyard, 1940). As a critic, Sekulić was best known for Njegošu knjiga duboke odanosti (A Book of Deep Homage to Njegoš, 1951) and Mir I nemir (Peace and Unrest, 1957), while Govor I jezik (Speech and Language, 1956) deals with the challenges of translating Yugoslav literature into Western European languages.

David Paul Clarke , freelance writer, Bethesda, Maryland