Croatology, Vol. 16 No. 2, 2025.
Review article
https://doi.org/10.59323/k.16.2.6
Nikola Tordinac as a Writer of Christian Inspiration
Mirko Ćurić
; Antun Horvat Vocational High School, Đakovo, Croatia
Abstract
Nikola Tordinac, a priest, professor at the Đakovo Theological Seminary,
translator, writer, and collector of folk treasures, was born in Đakovo on December 5, 1858, and died there on February 21, 1888. During his lifetime, he
published only two books: Hrvatske narodne piesme i pripovietke iz Bosne
[Croatian Folk Songs and Tales from Bosnia] (1883 and 1884) and a collection
of “sketches and tales” called Seoske bajke i bajalice [Village Fairy Tales and
Magic Words] (1885). After his death, Matica hrvatska published his Selected
Stories (1890). Following this publication, was is characterized in reviews of
Croatian literature as a writer who described the rural environment or emphasized his role as collector of oral-linguistic treasures. Many dimensions of his
work, especially spiritual ones, remain unknown and neglected. Nikola Tordinac was an author with a wide range of interests, from genre to theme, and since
he lived for less than thirty years, he had a much richer and more diverse oeuvre
than is presented in encyclopedias and literary histories. The paper approaches Tordinac primarily through three of his most famous stories, “Brat Adam”,
“Kožuh” and “Đakovočki spasovdan”, and aims to prove the thesis of Tordinac
as a writer of Christian inspiration. In the framework of research and analysis
of the corpus, the methodology primarily consisted of literary-historical and
literary-theoretical analysis.
Keywords
Christian inspiration ; Nikola Tordinac ; ritual ; stories
Hrčak ID:
337385
URI
Publication date:
2.11.2025.
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