Preliminary communication
Joanna as Ur-Gloria, Literary and non-literary (political-ideological) relations of Ranko Marinković’s Gloria to Drago Gervais’ The Virgin Joanna’s Miracle
Grgo Mišković
orcid.org/0000-0002-1102-3174
; Primary school, Biograd na moru
Abstract
The article presents the so-far unexplored relation between the two dramas: The Virgin Joanna’s Miracle by Drago Gervais and Glo- ria by Ranko Marinković, with conclusion that these are very similar in content and ideology. Both dramas, created at around the same time by the authors who held high and responsible theatre positi- ons, deal with the Catholic Church in a very negative way at a time when political, communist authorities demanded it for their own interest. The Virgin Johanna’s Miracle is based on a real case of Johanca Jeroušek of the early twentieth century, which even then was used for “anticlerical propaganda” in Supilo’s papers Riječki Novi List, and repeated again in 1952 in Riječki List. Marinković’s Gloria brings the same ideological lesson, in which the plot of Gloria may well be connected with Gervais’ comedy (the heroine in conflict with the Church), so they probably drew from the same source. It is not insignificant that the case of “Saint Johanca” is also mentioned in Gloria. In the period after the imprisoned Stepinac was named Cardinal in 1952 and consequential severance of diplomatic relations between Yugoslavia and Vatican, when the aim was to break the church unity by the class associations of priests and to separate the Church of Croatia from Rome, both texts propagated politically acceptable conclusion. Gervais’ drama had never been performed – presumably, out of two acceptable and commissioned dramas, the more successful one was chosen, while the worse drama was moved away not to be in the way! Both texts, in their historical context and distinctive ideological line, could be compared with Roman mimes and farces that ridiculed Christians at the time of their persecution.
Keywords
The Virgin Joanna’s Miracle by Drago Gervais; Gloria by Ranko Marinković; Croatian drama; ideology; intertextuality; Communist persecutions of the Church; religion; XX century
Hrčak ID:
155276
URI
Publication date:
7.4.2016.
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