Izvorni znanstveni članak
https://doi.org/10.21857/yq32oh47g9
Members of Austro-Hungarian Navy and reading during World War One: the example of Morpurgo bookstore in Split
Jelena Lakuš
; Filozofski fakultet Sveučilišta Josipa Jurja Strossmayera u Osijeku, Osijek, Hrvatska
Nada Topić
; OŠ Vjekoslava Paraća, Solin, Hrvatska
Sažetak
Characteristics of reading practices, reading experiences and habits of members of Austro-Hungarian Navy during World War One have so far remained almost a complete mystery to us. This paper, which rests on a detailed analysis of 113 order forms sent by members of Austro-Hungarian Navy to the Morpurgo bookstore in Split in the period 1914–1916, and identified at the State Archives in Split, reveals a whole set of information on soldiers as readers: their names, their status, the names of the ships they sailed on and military bases they were positioned at, titles of publications they ordered, and occasionally even their reasons for reading. We have thereby won an interesting and unique insight into the reading profile of soldiers during World War One. The paper offers a linguistic, thematic and genre analysis of the ordered publications; it has been concluded that soldiers had mainly been ordering books written in Croatian language – mostly literature (books of poems, novels, short stories) and religious works (books of prayers), and that their reading interests did not significantly differ from the interests of their contemporaries in other European military units of that time. The analysis of the geographic distribution of the orderers showed that the majority of orders came from Pula, the central port of Austro-Hungarian Navy, but there were also orders from other towns and settlements where the navy fleet on the Adriatic was stationed (Herceg Novi, Crkvice, Risan, Šibenik, etc.). The orderers were in most cases privates and soldiers of lower ranks, of Croatian nationality in most cases. The paper endeavours to show that the analyzed order forms are not only an authentic testimony regarding the soldiers’ interest in reading, but also a genuine historical trace of the need for written word and for books in the wartime.
Ključne riječi
soldiers; Austro-Hungarian Navy; World War One; Morpurgo bookstore; reading; reading culture.
Hrčak ID:
211529
URI
Datum izdavanja:
6.12.2018.
Posjeta: 2.860 *