Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.21857/m8vqrtz4q9
Juraj Dobrila and the Expansion of the Written Word
Mihovil Dabo
orcid.org/0000-0002-7562-3013
; Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, Faculty of Humanities - Department of History, Pula, Croatia
Abstract
The movement of opening Croatian reading rooms in the Province of Istria was
a semicentennial process, which may not be comprehended outside the wider context
of national integration. The social and political emancipation of Croatian population
initially took place in the border parts of the Province, the Kastav area and the islands,
whereas the inland of the peninsula and the hinterland of the towns along the west coast
were considerably slower in distancing themselves from the influence of Italian citizens.
Nevertheless, the written word in the mother tongue began to be expanding there as
early as around the mid-nineteenth century, thanks – primarily – to the endeavours
and efforts of Juraj Dobrila, the leading reviver of the Croats in Istria. The prayer book
Otče budi volja tvoja!, shepherd letters, the calendar Istran, the paper Naša sloga,
etc. – printed media in the Croatian language intended for the poorly educated rural
population – have marked Dobrila’s period and become one of the pillars upon which
Croatian nation in Istria was shaped. In addition to these examples, particularly worth mentioning is the Bishop’s cooperation with the Zagreb Society of St. Jerome, indicating
to the interrelation between cultural elevation and the process of integration.
Though the wave of opening reading rooms spread across Istria in the decades following
Dobrila’s death, the uneliminable foundation, formed thanks to the Bishop’s revivalrelated
activity, had previously already existed in rural areas.
Keywords
Juraj Dobrila; Croatian national revival in Istria; spread of literacy; written culture; national integration
Hrčak ID:
198993
URI
Publication date:
17.4.2018.
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