Jovan Sterija Popović and George Castriot Skanderbeg

Abstract

The works of one of the best Serbian playwrights, Jovan Sterija Popović (1806-1856) about the Albanian hero George Castriot Skanderbeg (1405-1468) merit much greater consideration than what they have so far received from Southern Slav scholars.
Sterija is generally considered to be the founder of Serbian drama, but he is also the author of poems and novels and other texts of morphologically different literary genres (Ivanić 2007: 273). His earliest dramaturgical works were the dramatizations of popular poems such as Nevinost, Svetislav i Mileva, Miloš Obilić and Nahod Simeon. His later historical dramas, such as Smrt Stefana Dečanskog, Vladislav, Lahan (the subject is from Bulgarian history), are undoubtedly better and were well received by Serbian audiences. However, his most notable contribution is in comedies, such as Laža e paralaža, Tvrdica, Pokondirana tikva, Kir Janja, Rodoljupci. His dramas revolve around the cult of sentiments (Sterija was much influenced by the work of Samuel Richardson) and nature, the idealization of life, friendship and
love.