Life and work of Dr. Jovan Jovanović Zmaj

The year of 2004 was the 100th anniversary of death of the poet and physician Dr. Jovan Jovanović Zmaj. Jovan Jovanović Zmaj was born in 1833 in Novi Sad, and died in 1904 in Sremska Kamenica J.J. Zmaj himself studied law and worked in the Novi Sad magistrate court. It was not until he turned 30 that he began practicing medicine. He developed as a poet as early as during his studies. He remained loyal to the vocations of physician and poet throughout his life. He wrote over 5000 poems, ranging from those for children through those for adults and those with which he addressed the rulers satirically. He was a founder of a number of magazines (Javor, Neven, Komarac, Danica). At that time of Romanticism, the work of J.J. Zmaj also had a national character. However, he succeeded in achieving something more: he introduced a literary genre till then unknown in Serb literature--literature for children. Through his genre he promoted not only Serbian language but also hygiene, by which he played a significant health care role, similar to that played by his friend Milan Jovanović Batut, only from a different aspect. He also used to draw, and his drawing of the emblem of the Serbian Literary Association has remained on the cover of every book published by it until these days.