Proverbs in Vitezović’s Odiljenje sigetsko

Abstract

Amongst numerous literary genres which Pavao Ritter Vitezović (1652 – 1713) included in his hybrid “epic poem” Odiljenje sigetsko [The siege of Siget] (1684) proverbs have a special place. Dispersed in all four parts of the text, proverbs are one of the most common genres in Odiljenje, as well as in Vitezović’s heterogenous and extensive oeuvre. This article deals with the semantic diversity of proverbs in Odiljenje sigetsko, explores their possible origin (oral / written literature) and their function within the “poem”, and compares them with proverbs from other selected Vitezović’s works in Croatian. The analysis demonstrates that the omnipresence of proverbs in Odiljenje is essentially an echo of the clear baroque propensity for (oral) proverbs and proverbial forms, as well as evidence of Vitezović’s strong desire to make his work available to less educated readers.

Keywords: Pavao Ritter Vitezović, Odiljenje sigetsko [The siege of Siget], proverbs, oral literature