FAMOUS CROATS 2014 - I. GUNDULIC

IVAN GUNDULIĆ (1589 – 1638)

The most prominent writer of the “Golden Age“ of Dubrovnik, the creator of exceptionally resonant and witty verses and a kind of symbol of the free spirit of the town-republic, Ivan Gundulić, rightfully took a high, even key position on the national Parnassus, helped to establish genuine tradition and the bridge between „older“ and „recent“ Croatian literature. Educated in his native town, which he rarely left during his not so long life (but in which he held important offices), Dživo – named Mačica or Plavković – managed to catch up pace with most developed stylistic and morphologic tendencies of his time and creatively assimilate essential Italian influences and skilfully - even virtuously- express himself in a complex, opulent baroque and concetto way.
He started, as is usual, writing lyric, love verses but in his mature age renounced that „progeny of darkness“ and destroyed his Canzoniere. In his first published work, Pjesni pokorne kralja Davida (1621) he explicitly shows his shifting away from his youthful licentiousness and sticking to almost pedagogic function of catholic renewal and in his remarkable work of reflexive and meditative poetry Suze sina razmetnoga (1622.), achieves deep persuasiveness and elegance of expression. His pastoral play Dubravka (1628) presents in an allegoric way the destiny of homeland and sublimes the plot with his famous hymn to liberty.
His most fruitful life period Gundulić devoted to the creation of the epic poem Osman. Although his thematic framework is far away from local or regional events, since it refers to intrigues at the Ottoman court and to the Battle of Chocim between the Turks and the Poles, the work has since long ago taken the status of the national epic, the work in which the homeland Dubrovnik, and then the entire Croatian culture recognises the ethos of defending liberty and independence. In spite of being created after the model of Tasso's heroic epic, the scenes from war and fight and the erotic and sensual scenes in the work of Gundulić possess the power of original view and individual sensitiveness. The work remained unprinted in the period of Dubrovnik Republic (probably because of political considerations of Dubrovnik in relation to the influential “sponsor” - Turkey), but was very often copied and become very popular. And, in the dawn of the Illyrian Revival in the 19th century the work of Gundulić is rediscovered as spiritual source and repeatedly declared as holder of European identity due to its achieved high level of poetry in Croatian language.


Tonko Maroević