Vladimir Nazor (30 May 1876 – 19 June 1949) was a
Croatian poet and politician. During and after
World War II in Yugoslavia
World War II in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia began on 6 April 1941, when the country was Invasion of Yugoslavia, invaded and swiftly conquered by Axis powers, Axis forces and partitioned among Nazi Germany, Germany, Fascist Italy (1922–1943), It ...
, he served as the first
President of the Presidency of the Croatian Parliament (Croatian head of state), and first
Speaker of the Croatian Parliament.
Nazor is a well-known poet, writer, translator, and
humanist
Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry.
The meaning of the term "humanism" ha ...
. He was not an active politician until 1941, but had a significant political influence through ethical aspects of his work during prewar
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () h ...
.
Early career
Nazor's early work paralleled the rise of the Young Croatian literary movement. He acquired much literary popularity in
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 ...
writing about
folk legends and stories, including ''Big Joseph'' (''
Veli Jože'') (1908), which features a helpful and kind hearted
giant
In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: ''wiktionary:gigas, gigas'', cognate wiktionary:giga-, giga-) are beings of humanoid appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''gia ...
named Jože living in the town of
Motovun (Inner
Istria
Istria ( ; Croatian language, Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene: ; Italian language, Italian and Venetian language, Venetian: ; ; Istro-Romanian language, Istro-Romanian: ; ; ) is the largest peninsula within the Adriatic Sea. Located at th ...
). His verses in ''Hrvatski kraljevi'' (''Croatian Kings'') (1912) established him as a prominent patriot poet. ''Istrian Tales'' (''Istarske priče'') (1913) showcased his storytelling style. By illuminating the personality of the South Slavs through tales of Croatia, he contributed to the creation of the Yugoslav national consciousness.
Nazor supported the opposition alliance led by
Vladko Maček
Vladimir Maček (20 June 1879 – 15 May 1964) was a politician in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. As a leader of the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) following the 1928 assassination of Stjepan Radić, Maček had been a leading Croatian political figure ...
in the
1938 Yugoslavian election. During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, on 30 December 1941, Nazor became a member of the
Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts
The Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (; , HAZU) is the national academy of Croatia.
HAZU was founded under the patronage of the Croatian bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer under the name Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts (, JAZU) since its ...
by government decree. In 1942 he escaped from
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 ...
with poet
Ivan Goran Kovačić
Ivan Goran Kovačić (; 21 March 1913 – 12 July 1943) was a Croatian poet and writer.
Early life and background
He was born in the town of Lukovdol, Vrbovsko municipality, in Gorski Kotar, to a Croat father, Ivan Kovačić, and Transylvani ...
in a boat across the river Kupa, sublimed in the poem ''The Boat on the Kupa'' (''Čamac na Kupi''), and then joined the
Partisans. Nazor became one of
Josip Broz Tito
Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito ( ; , ), was a Yugoslavia, Yugoslav communist revolutionary and politician who served in various positions of national leadership from 1943 unti ...
's closest associates and the President of Croatia's World War II assembly, the
ZAVNOH. He went on to write a war diary ''With Partisans'' (''S partizanima'') (1943–1945).
Nazor began his political career as the head of the
State Anti-fascist Council for the National Liberation of Croatia (ZAVNOH), the provisional Croatian
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
deliberative assembly, before becoming head of the first post-war Croatian National Parliament (''Narodni Sabor''). In that post, he was, by law, concurrently the first (non-monarchical)
head of state of Croatia, and the ''de facto'' first head of state of the current
Croatian republic. His position carried little real political power, which was instead invested in the office of the
President of the Government and informally with the
Secretary of the Communist Party of Croatia.
Nazor's opus after WWII mostly consisted of works strongly supportive of
Tito's communist regime. His
hagiographic poem ''Titov Naprijed'' (Tito's Forward) was famously memorized by generations of schoolchildren throughout Yugoslavia well into the 80s. Other poems such as ''Drug Tito'' (Comrade Tito), ''Naš vođa'' (Our Leader), ''
Uz Maršala Tita'' (With Marshal Tito), and many others had a similar
socialist realism style bolstering
Tito's cult of personality
A cult of personality, or a cult of the leader,Cas Mudde, Mudde, Cas and Kaltwasser, Cristóbal Rovira (2017) ''Populism: A Very Short Introduction''. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 63. is the result of an effort which is made to create ...
. However, it is a matter of debate whether Nazor really became a fervent communist or supported the regime mostly out of fear and
opportunism. Reflecting on his position under the communist government in his diary ''Večernje bilješke'' (1945), Nazor notes "They gave me a lot of honor but no power!" ("Doduše, dodijeliše mi čast, ali ne i vlast!").
As a poet
Stamp featuring Nazor's likeness issued in May 1976 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of his birth.
One of Nazor's main prose works is the extensive novel ''Loda the Shepherd'' (''Pastir Loda'') (1938). The work describes the history of his native island of Brač as told by Loda, a
faun
The faun (, ; , ) is a half-human and half-goat mythological creature appearing in Greek and Roman mythology.
Originally fauns of Roman mythology were ghosts ( genii) of rustic places, lesser versions of their chief, the god Faunus. Before t ...
, one of the last of that kind on the island.
In poetry, Nazor's creative way began with metaphysical transcendental philosophy and materialistic revolutionary action, prior to rational scheme and harmonic larpourlartistic crystal structure and interior protest against artistic verbalizing in
Futurism
Futurism ( ) was an Art movement, artistic and social movement that originated in Italy, and to a lesser extent in other countries, in the early 20th century. It emphasized dynamism, speed, technology, youth, violence, and objects such as the ...
,
Dada
Dada () or Dadaism was an anti-establishment art movement that developed in 1915 in the context of the Great War and the earlier anti-art movement. Early centers for dadaism included Zürich and Berlin. Within a few years, the movement had s ...
ism,
Expressionism
Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...
, and
Surrealism
Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...
, as well as instructive didactics of
socialist realism. Therefore, his opus incorporates a variety of style tendencies, from
neoclassical and
surrealistic to s ymbolism. Some of his works contain rhythm forcing, vowels shortening for adjusting the number of syllables and progressing the sentence to the next verse, as well as his use of unusual and archaic words
Nazor wrote over 500 poems. The early phase of Nazor's poetry work is mostly object of scholars' research now, but ''Galérien's Poeme'' (''Galiotova pesan'') from that time (1903), describing suffering and sadness of a galley slave, attains universal meaning as condemnation of oppression and still stands as one of the most expressive disapproval of slavery.
Nazor reached the highest scope in poems of so-called pagan phase, published in books of verse ''Lyrics'' (''Lirika'') (1910) and ''New Poems'' (''Nove pjesme'') (1913).
Nazor spoke several languages and translated Italian (
Dante
Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...
–
Divina Commedia,
Giosuè Carducci,
Giovanni Pascoli,
Gabriele d'Annunzio), German (
Goethe
Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...
,
Heine), French (
Hugo,
Alfred de Musset), and English (
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
).
Nazor was buried in
Mirogoj Cemetery. Since 1959, Croatia has named a state award for artistic achievement the
Vladimir Nazor Award. In 2008, a total of 306 streets in Croatia were named after Nazor, making him the second most common person eponym of streets in the country behind Matija Gubec.
Works
*Na vrhu jezika i pera,
Croatian Publishing and Bibliographic Institute, 1942
His works have been translated into following languages (incomplete list):
*Italian
*Hungarian
*Slovenian
*German
References
Relevant literature
* Gálvez, Francisco Javier Juez. 2021. "'Llenar este hueco de curiosidad e interest por lo lejano' Vladimir Nazor ne la revisita litaria ''Escorial''." ''Studia Romanica et Anglica Zagrebiensia'' LXVI 233-240.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nazor, Vladimir
1876 births
1949 deaths
People from Postira
People from the Kingdom of Dalmatia
League of Communists of Croatia politicians
Presidents of Croatia
20th-century Croatian poets
Yugoslav Partisans members
Croatian people of World War II
Members of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Burials at Mirogoj Cemetery
Croatian male poets
20th-century Croatian male writers