Original scientific paper
Hvar as the »Lost Homeland« in Šoljan’s Poetry
Kristina Grgić
orcid.org/0000-0003-1767-651X
; Faculty of philosophy in Zagreb, University of Zagreb
Abstract
The paper analyzes six poems by Antun Šoljan thematically connected with the island of Hvar, starting with the notion of the »lost homeland«, the term the poet once used to describe the birthplace of his father. In these poems, the island of Hvar is evoked directly and indirectly as a concrete space, and the titles of some of the poems contain Hvar toponyms. However, the proposed analysis shows that Hvar simultaneously transformed into a multilayered symbol intertwining the poet’s personal history, the problem of human existence and the purpose and destiny of poetry. The »lost homeland« thus metamorphoses from the ancestrae resting place into the metaphor of human life and the quest for its meaning, and is finally equated with literature/literary tradition as the genuine »poetic homeland«.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
82213
URI
Publication date:
4.5.2012.
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