Dragutin Rakovac (or Rakovec) (1 November 1813 – 22 November 1854) was a

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

n writer, translator and journalist. He was born in

Vugrovec Vugrovec is a village in Croatia. It is formally a settlement (naselje) of Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. For the 1991 Croatian census, the village was divided into Vugrovec Gornji and Vugrovec Donji. For the 2021 Croatian census, Vugrovec Don ...

. He received a degree in philosophy and law in 1831 in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

. From 1831 he was employed at the

Tabula Banalis The Tabula Banalis () was the supreme court of Croatia. It was established in 1723 by Charles VI, ruler of the Habsburg monarchy. The court was presided over by the Ban of Croatia or by his deputy. For more important trials it was the first instan ...

and in a law clerk office. He was an associate of

Ljudevit Gaj Ljudevit Gaj (; born Ludwig Gay; ; 8 August 1809 – 20 April 1872) was a Croatian linguist, politician, journalist and writer. He was one of the central figures of the pan-Slavist Illyrian movement. Biography Origin He was born in Krapina ( ...

and an editor of the ''Novine horvatske'' (1835–1842). Together with

Ljudevit Vukotinović Ljudevit Farkaš Vukotinović (13 January 1813 – 17 March 1893) was a Croatian politician, writer and naturalist. He was born in Zagreb. He studied philosophy in Szombathely, and law in Zagreb and Bratislava, where he graduated. In 1836, he ...

and

Stanko Vraz Stanko Vraz (baptized Jakob Fraß; 30 June 1810 – 20 May 1851) was a Slovenian language, Slovenian-Croatian language, Croatian poet. He Slavicized his name to ''Stanko Vraz'' in 1836. Biography Born in the village of Cerovec Stanka Vraza, Cero ...

he founded and edited magazine

Kolo Kolo may refer to: Places Poland *Koło *Koło, Łódź Voivodeship * Koło, Lublin Voivodeship *Koło, Lubusz Voivodeship Other places *Kamalanka, which was also known as ''Kolo'', an ancient kingdom in present-day Thailand * Kolo, Bosnia and He ...

in 1842. Since 1841 he served as a secretary of the Economic Society and an editor of several of its publications. He also edited ''Koledar za puk'' (1847–1850). He founded the magazine ''Gospodarki list'' and edited it from 1841 to 1850. He became the first curator of the National Museum in 1846. In his youth Rakovac wrote, translated and adapted works in the

Kajkavian dialect Kajkavian is a South Slavic supradialect or language spoken primarily by Croats in much of Central Croatia and Gorski Kotar. It is part of the South Slavic dialect continuum, being transitional to the supradialects of Čakavian, Štokavian ...

( Theodor Körner and others). His adaptation of a monodrama by

August von Kotzebue August Friedrich Ferdinand von Kotzebue (, ; – ) was a German playwright, who had also worked as a Russian diplomat. In 1817, one of Kotzebue's books was burned during the Wartburg festival. He was murdered in 1819 by Karl Ludwig Sand, a ...

''Stari mladoženja i košarice'' was published in 1832. The only preserved original dramatic work of his is a dramatic poem ''Duh'' ("Spirit", 1832), while the play ''Veronika od Desenic'', started in 1831, is today only known by its title. His first work in the

Štokavian dialect Shtokavian or Štokavian (; sh-Latn, štokavski / sh-Cyrl, italics=no, штокавски, ) is the prestige dialect, prestige supradialect of the pluricentric language, pluricentric Serbo-Croatian language and the basis of its Serbian langu ...

was published in 1835 in the first issue of ''

Danica ilirska Danica ilirska was the first Croatian literary magazine launched on 10 January 1835 as a weekly supplement to ''Novine horvatske'' newspaper in Zagreb, the Kingdom of Croatia. It was initially published under the title of ''Danicza horvatzka, sl ...

'', where he continued to publish Illyrian patriotic and later love poetry (''Sila ljubavi'', 1837 and others), foreshadowing romantic Neopetrarchism. According to a Slovakian template he wrote a poem ''Duh slavjanski'' ("The Slavic Spirit"), from which three stanzas became the anthem of the

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

(

Hey, Slavs "Hey, Slavs" is a patriotic song dedicated to the Slavs and widely considered to be the Pan-Slavic anthem. It was adapted and adopted as the national anthem of various Slavic-speaking nations, movements and organizations during the late 19th and ...

). Together with Ljudevit Vukotinović he published the first Croatian anthology of patriotic poetry: ''Pjesmarica: pjesme domorodne'' in 1842. In his political essay ''Mali katekizam za velike ljude'' ("A small catechism for great people", 1842) he defends the dignity of Croatian and the right to defend the Croatian national identity against the Hungarian encroachments. His memoirs ''Dnevnik'' (1922) were published posthumously, and represent an important historical account of the

Illyrian movement The Illyrian movement (; ) was a pan-South-Slavic cultural and political campaign with roots in the early modern period, and revived by a group of young Croatian intellectuals during the first half of the 19th century, around the years of 1835 t ...

. He died in Zagreb.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rakovac, Dragutin Croatian writers Croatian translators Journalists from the Austrian Empire 1813 births 1854 deaths 19th-century journalists Male journalists 19th-century translators 19th-century Croatian male writers