Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.21066/carcl.libri.9.2.2
Letters of Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić to Milan Šević: From Encyclopaedic Content to the Differentiation of a Literary Genre
Zorica Hadžić
; Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad, Srbija
Željko Milanović
orcid.org/0000-0001-7573-8024
; Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad, Srbija
Abstract
In this study, the letters of Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić addressed to Milan Šević are published for the first time. From this material, it is clear that Milan Šević asked Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić for the letters of Jovan Jovanović Zmaj, and for her own biographical data, and that he planned to publish in Cyrillic script Croatian Tales of Long Ago, or some of her other literary writings. Šević`s view that children’s literature should be established on its own and become an independent fictional genre (Šević used to call it “differentiation”) obtained its approval in the creative work of Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić. The letters of Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić repeat facts and details noted earlier in her autobiography, treating her own poetry collection Slike [Images] (1912) in the same way in both sources (the letters and the autobiography). Her repeated insistence on the special status of this poetry collection suggests that she intended to position herself beyond children’s literature, i.e. to differentiate herself. Many spots in her “Autobiography” which speak of poetry support such a statement, as does the attestation of Želimir Mažuranić in his letters to Milan Šević that Croatian Tales of Long Ago is certainly not children’s literature, even though the tales may be read by children, too, and even though the book has educational value.
Keywords
autobiography; correspondence; differentiation; Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić; Milan Šević; Images;
Hrčak ID:
252417
URI
Publication date:
31.12.2020.
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