The ethos of the stage: Eustahija Arsic

In: Zbornik Matice Srpske za društvene nauke: Proceedings for social sciences, Heft 180, S. 507-521

Abstract

The article examines the work of the first modern writer of the Serbian
language, Eustahija Arsic. Undoubtedly, Dositej Obradovic?s student, in her
short ethical treatise, published under the title ?Moral Lessons? (1816),
presented a kind of list of leading virtues. At the beginning of the 19th
century, almost every story about morality responded to the need to shape an
intersubjective, national platform. Moral education aimed to create a better
man, and a better man was necessary by all means. The 19th century will
create it. He or she will appear in the form of an engaged national worker,
liberal and cosmopolitan. The author?s profile of Eustahija Arsic testifies
to the unusual, almost paradoxical modest courage of our first female
writer. In order to illuminate it appropriately, we have firstly considered
the configuration of the notion of beginning in the first decades of the
19th century. According to Eustahija, the beginning is a free act, the
initiation of sharing, and its reflection points to taking the active life
into one?s own hands.