МИХАИЛО МАКСИМОВИЋ, ПРВИ СРПСКИ САТИРИЧАР (Мали буквар за велику децу)
MIHAILO MAKSIMOVIĆ, THE FIRST SERBIAN SATIRIST (Mali bukvar za veliku decu)

Summary/Abstract: The paper will deal with Mihailo Maksimović’s piece Mali bukvar za veliku decu, as an example of humorous and didactic prose. Firstly we will focus on observing Maksimović as the first satirist, and secondly as one of the educators of wider population. This will be done with an intention to place his work in the context of the Enlightment era. In this way, we will contemplate the meaning of his creativity in two ways, such as promotion of the development of critical consciousness as well as the shaping of the emerging civil society. Bearing in mind the completeness of the Enlightenment idea in the Serbian literature of the eighteenth century, we will try to interpret the workmostly from the point of view of utilitarianism. In this way, we will show that literature with a concrete social function can remain at a high aesthetic level. We will also interpret the satirical aspect of Mali bukvar za veliku decu in the light of the edification it offers, since that dimension seems to be an elementary consequence of the critical work. Learning from other people’s, stylistically shaped, flaws gives satire additional importance, and Maksimović's work the possibility of belonging to both Serbian and European enlightened modernity.

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