Vasa Mihailovich

Vasa D. Mihailovich (Prokuplje, Serbia, Kingdom of Yugoslavia, 12 August 1926 – Stamford, Connecticut, United States of America, 25 November 2015) was a former professor at the University of North Carolina and a well-known poet^[1], writer and translator of literary and scholarly works.^[2][3]Much of Serbian literature accessible in English are credited to him.

Biography[edit]

Vasilije "Vasa" Mihailovich was born in Prokoplje, Serbia, near the Toplica River, to Dragutin and Vidosava (née Petković). He had two siblings, a sister and an older brother. Vasa's father Dragutin, a veteran of the Balkan Wars and the Great War, worked as a postmaster in Leskovac. Vasa's mother, Vidosava, was the daughter of a Serbian priest, Father Miloje Petković, who was killed by Bulgarian soldiers in World War I.

Vasa Mihailovich was raised in Leskovac, an industrial centre of pre-World War II Yugoslavia. During the World War II|Second World War he experienced early German and later American bombing raids. American bombers bound for Rumania flew overhad while he took his high school graduation exams in the spring of 1944. German-occupied Leskovac was bombed and the Mihailovich family survived a "close call" when a bomb which had landed in a neighbour's yard failed to detonate. Near the end of the war he and his brother were forced to dodge communist execution squads before escaping to Italy with the rest of the former members of the Royal Yugoslav Army. His parents stayed behind. In Italy he spent a few years in different Displaced Persons|D.P. camps before moving to a German refugee camp. In 1951, from that camp, Vasa emigrated to the United Sates with the help of the Serbian Orthodox Church and many generous Serbian Americans.

At the dock in New York City all Émigré|émigées received envelopes with some cash and destinations. On Sava's envelope it said "Kansas City". In Kansas City he worked for a Serb who owned a trucking company, George Zuzich. There he met and married Branka Jančetović, born in Priština, Serbia. Because Vasa wanted to continue his education, he left Kansas City and moved to Detroit where attended Wayne State University, going to school during the day and working at night. After completing his Bachelor of Arts degree from Wayne State University in 1956, Vasa continued for a Master's degree|Master's in German there.

In 1957, he received a teaching assistantship at the University of California at Berkeley and continued with his graduate education towards a Ph.D. in German studies. His thesis was entitled "Hermann Hesse as a Critic of Russian Literature"^[4]. Vasa received his Ph.D. in 1961 and found a teaching position at Chapel Hill^[5]. There he pioneered in building Slavic Studies—prepared and delivered lectures in a wide variety of new courses; researched and published numerous literary reviews^[6], articles, translations^[7]; advisedand guided students in their course selection and thesis preparation; and led the rigorous and interesting lif of a professor at one of America's premier universities.

Just as Vasa Mihailovich came to Chapel Hill in 1961, the demand for Slavic language instruction became a priority. Formerly, Harvard was the only place on the East Coast where Serbo-Croatian major was offered. Today there is a four-year program at the University of North Carolina, and masters and doctorates as well. Russian is required as a strong minor. In addition to languages, Serbian and Croatian literature courses were offered.

Between 1969 and 1971, Professor Mihailovich served as the vice-president of the American Association of teachers of Slavic and East European Languages, and between 1980 and 1982, he was the president of teh North American Society of Serbian Studies. In 1987 Dover published his phrase book, "Say It in Serbo-Croatian".

Both of his sons Draggan and Zoran make their living in fields where their Serbian skills are assets. Draggan Mihailovich^[8] is a CBS producer. who covers the Olympics primarily. He started with the Sarajevo Winter Olympics in 1982 and has since covered several. He has also produced documentaries for 60 Minutes. Zoran, the younger, is a poltiical analyest for the federal government in the Washington, D.C. area. Both are graduates of the University of North Carolina.

Works[edit]

• English translation of The Mountain Wreath by Petar II Petrović-Njegoš^[9]
• South Slavic Writers Since World War II^[10]
• For Acorn^[11]
• For The Naive Ones^[11]
• English translation of Desanka Maksimović's I seek mercy: "For All Magdalenes"^[12]
• Stari i novi vilajet (prose poems)
• Bdenja (proser poems)
• Litija malih praznika (prose poems)
• Emigranti i druge price (short stories)
• U tudjem pristanistu (anthology)
• Rasejano slovo ^[13]
• English translation of Jovan Dučić's Plave Legende (Blue Legends)
• Contemporary Yugoslav Poetry (anthology)
• Co-authored with Milne Holton: "Songs of the Serbian People: From the Collection of Vuk Karadžić^[14]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

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