Draft:Mileva Simic

Mileva Simić (Serbian Cyrillic: Милева Симић; Novi Sad, Austria-Hungary, 15 February 1859 - Novi Sad, Serbia, Yugoslavia, 1946) was a Serbian teacher, writer, and translator. For her work in pedagogy and literature she was awarded the Order of King Alexander I, first degree. She also had a role in the emancipation of women in Serbian society in the late 19th- and early 20th-century

Early life

Mileva Simić was born in 1859 in Novi Sad, in a very wealthy and respectable family. Mileva's father was the Serbian academic painter Pavle Simić, and her mother Jelisaveta, the daughter of Novi Sad mayor and lawyer Grigorije Jovšić (1806-1862). The Simić family often moved because of the work of Pavle Simić, who painted iconostases throughout Serbia. Her father was commissioned by Serbian philanthropist Marija Trandafil to paint the iconostases of Church of St. Nicholas (Nikolajevska Crkva), the oldest Orthodox church in Novi Sad (1739). The dome, typical of Russian Orthodox churches, and crosses are plated with 23-carat gold.

From 1871 to 1872, the Simić family lived in Sombor, where the Pavle Simić was appointed to paint icons for the iconostases of the Church of Saint George..

After arriving in Sombor, at the age of 12, Mileva found out about the town's Teacher's College, which she became extremely interested in, due to her great desire to learn, having craved since early childhood. With the special permission of professor and catechist Nikola Đ. Vukićević and with permission from the School Council, Mileva was allowed to study at the Serbian Teacher's School, even though she was too young to enrol at the tender age of 12. She finished teacher training school on time, with excellent results. At the age of 15 she began her teaching career at the Women's High School in Novi Sad, where she spent the next 32 years and for a while held the post of principal of the school.

She always credited Milica Stojadinović-Srpkinja and her mother's sister Dafina Natašović, who was married to Djordje Natošević and whose house was the frequented by Serbian intellectuals of the time, for having a lasting influence on her.

Work in the field of literature

Mileva started writing in 1876. She wrote several works, such as Knjiga za narod ("Book for the People"), published by Matica srpska, and a humorous play Retka sreća ("Rare Luck"), awarded the first prize in literature by Matica srpska. In addition to literary works, while teacheing, she wrote two school textbooks, Kućarstvo ("Housekeeping") and Pedagogija ("Pedagogy"), which, based on the assessment of the School Council, became mandatory in all Serbian public and teachers' schools.

Mileva also authored children's books. In addition to pedagogical literary stories for children, published in the mgazines Neven and Spomenik, Mileva wrote six children's theatre plays, among them Drugarica ("Girlfriend") (Sombor), Dobrovoljni prilozi ("Donations") (Mostar) and Plaćenik (Novi Sad) were published, while others such as Sirotica ("Orphan") and the play U lazi je plitko dno ("A lie has a shallow bottom") and many others remained unpublished.

In addition to writing and teaching, she also translated works of novelist and revolutionary Mór Jókai, about whom she wrote a lot, namely Jokai's Tajni useljenici ("Secret Immigrants"), first published in Serbian in 1882.

In addition to the short stories Nada Maksim Crnojević and Prividenje, the newspaper Javor published her texts about Heinrich Heine, the German poet, and Serbian icon painter Jovan Klajić.

In 1913, the Irig newspaper Srpkinja included Mileva Simić among the top four best collaborators of the literary societies of that era, and she was repeatedly declared an exemplary teacher. She was an honorary member of a Charity Cooperative called Srpkinja-Novosatkinja.

During her lifetime, Mileva collected a large number of Serbian women's folk songs from Srem, Banat and Bačka and insisted on preserving the Serbian language. She used pseudonyms Milka and Pavlovka.

Mileva Simić was never married.

Old age and death

Mileva Simić spent the last years of her life in her native Novi Sad in her home at "Grčkoškolska street number 10". She passed away in 1946 and was buried at the cemetery known as the Almaško groblje. A street in Novi Sad is named after her.

Scholastic and Literary Works

• U slikarskoj radionici
• Srpske narodne ženske pesme
• Sirotica (1922)
• Iz mojih božićnih uspomena
• Drugarice - pozorišna igra za decu u jednom činu, wrote to her students Mileva Simić in 1886
• Glavnija pravila o praktičnom vaspitanju dece (1886)
• Polaženik, a one-act theatrical play for children, written for her students by Mileva Simic (1891)
• Kućarstvo (1892)
• Dobrotvorni prilozi (1893)
• Pedagogija (1894)
• Retka sreća: šaljiva igra u jednom činu (1900)
• U laži je pritko dno (1920–1925)
• Gordana: dečja gluma u jednom činu (1922)

Articles and other similar texts:

• Purger Mata
• O vaspitanju (1874)
• Doživeo (1880)
• Nada (1884)
• Nega bolesnika (1893)
• O domaćem obrazovanju ženskinja u nas (1896)
• Adiđari (1899)
• Prvi i poslednji put sa Milicom-Srpkinjom (1913)
• Eseji za udavače (1922)
• Tri dana (1936)

Translations:

• Tajni useljenici (1882)
• Grofica Repaijeva (1886)

References

• Translated and adapted from Serbian Wikipedia: https://sr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9C%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%B0_%D0%A1%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%B8%D1%9B