FAMOUS CROATS, AUGUST ŠENOA

August Šenoa was born on 14 November 1838 in Zagreb. He finished elementary school in Zagreb, started high school in Pécs and completed in Zagreb, attended universities in Zagreb, Vienna and Prague. He edited the newspapers Glasonoša (The Messenger), Slawische Blätter, Pozor (The Notice) and Vienac (The Wreath). He was the artistic director and then playwright at the Croatian National Theater, city notary and city senator, and vice-president of Matica hrvatska. He was instrumental in arranging the arrival of Ivan pl. Zajc to Zagreb and the founding of the permanent Croatian opera. He attracted a large number of readers and created a Croatian readership that no longer preferred German-language literature. In his feuilletons The Eternal Jew in Zagreb and Zagrebulje, and the comedy Ljubica he advocated realistic satire; he affirmed the genre of historical novel (Goldsmith's Treasure, Beware of the Hand of Senj, The Peasant Rebellion, Diogenes, Curse), historical ballads – historical tales (Doom of Venice, Cursed Shed, etc.), poetic stories (The Shoemaker and the Devil, The House Of The Plague, The Petrified Wedding, The Snake Queen, etc.) and novels and short stories from modern life (Beggar Luka, Friend Lovro, Vladimir, Young Gentleman, etc.). He convincingly portrayed various social strata from history and modern era (The Cannon of Turopolje, Souls of the People's Guard, Baron Ivica, Carnation from the Poet's Grave, A Canary Lover, Branka, etc.). Historical tragedy Slavka remained unfinished. He followed theatrical events, laid the foundation for the modern feuilleton and turned it into a literary genre. He translated classic and contemporary literature and compiled poetry anthologies. His poems were set to music and became part of traditional culture (Posavke – Oh You, the Soul of My Soul!, Fisherman's Jana, etc.). He expressed the political program of the people (Be yourself!, Greetings to Dubrovnik, etc.), he codified the Croatian literary language and reached the peak of late Romanticism, and at the same time laid the foundations of Croatian realism. He contributed to the Croatian national integration and modernization: “Loud and of mind bright / Over valleys, over mounts / Flies to us Croatian song / To sea of blue it carries on / (…) Let brothers sing all as one: / Long live Croatia!” He discovered a number of new writers and supported their work. After the earthquake in Zagreb on 9 November 1880, he worked tirelessly on the sites of the ruined city, writing in parallel, and he died from inflammation on 13 December 1881 in Zagreb. His work is a symbol of the successful reconciliation of two literary functions: popular literature and aesthetic writing. He marked the Croatian cultural life of the second half of the 19th century to such an extent that the period in which he worked is called by his name – the Age of Šenoa (1865–1881). prof. dr. Cvijeta Pavlović Department of Comparative Literature Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences