Ivo Vojnovic
Encyclopedia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
n and Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
n writer from Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik is a Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea coast, positioned at the terminal end of the Isthmus of Dubrovnik. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations on the Adriatic, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva county. Its total population is 42,641...
. He is often nicknamed "The last great Dubrovnik writer".
Biography
Vojnović was born in DubrovnikDubrovnik
Dubrovnik is a Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea coast, positioned at the terminal end of the Isthmus of Dubrovnik. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations on the Adriatic, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva county. Its total population is 42,641...
as the second son of Count Konstantin Vojnović
Konstantin Vojnović
Konstantin pl. Vojnović was a Serbian-Croatian politician, university professor and rector.Vojnović was born in Herceg Novi into the of Serbian noble family House of Vojnović, who converted from Serbian Ortodoxy to Roman Catholicism by his grandmother.He graduated law at the University of Vienna...
(1832–1903) and María de Serraglí (1836–1922) on 9 October 1857 in Dubrovnik, the Habsburg Monarchy
Habsburg Monarchy
The Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The Imperial capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when it was moved to Prague...
. He was a member of the noble House of Vojnović. The city of his birth and its history had an important influence on his later literary work. Most of his childhood however he spent in Split
Split (city)
Split is a Mediterranean city on the eastern shores of the Adriatic Sea, centered around the ancient Roman Palace of the Emperor Diocletian and its wide port bay. With a population of 178,192 citizens, and a metropolitan area numbering up to 467,899, Split is by far the largest Dalmatian city and...
.
As a young man he moved to Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
where he attended the University of Zagreb
University of Zagreb
The University of Zagreb is the biggest Croatian university and the oldest continuously operating university in the area covering Central Europe south of Vienna and all of Southeastern Europe...
(Faculty of Law). In 1914 he went back to Dubrovnik where the Austrian-Hungarian
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
government imprisoned him in a Šibenik
Šibenik
Šibenik is a historic town in Croatia, with population of 51,553 . It is located in central Dalmatia where the river Krka flows into the Adriatic Sea...
jail
Jail
A jail is a short-term detention facility in the United States and Canada.Jail may also refer to:In entertainment:*Jail , a 1966 Malayalam movie*Jail , a 2009 Bollywood movie...
"as a well known Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
n nationalist".
Until 1884 he served as a trainee of the "Kings official desk" in Zagreb. After that he continued his judicial career in Križevci, Bjelovar
Bjelovar
Bjelovar is a city in central Croatia. It is the administrative centre of Bjelovar-Bilogora County. During the 2001 census, there were 41,869 inhabitants, 90.51% which are Croats....
, Zadar
Zadar
Zadar is a city in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea. It is the centre of Zadar county and the wider northern Dalmatian region. Population of the city is 75,082 citizens...
, Dubrovnik. His career as a judicial official ended when he was fired from the office in Supetar
Supetar
Supetar is a town on the northern side of the Dalmatian island of Brač,in the Splitsko-Dalmatiska County, in Croatia. It became the island's official centre in 1827...
on the island of Brač
Brac
Brač is an island in the Adriatic Sea within Croatia, with an area of 396 km², making it the largest island in Dalmatia, and the third largest in the Adriatic. Its tallest peak, Vidova Gora, or Mount St. Vid, stands at 778 m, making it the highest island point in the Adriatic...
. He then worked in the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, where he worked for four years. In 1911 he became a professional writer and travelled in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
.
Vojnović entered literature in 1880 when August Šenoa
August Šenoa
August Šenoa was a Croatian novelist, critic, editor, poet, and dramatist....
's Vienac published his short story "Geranijum" under the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
Sergej P. Matica hrvatska
Matica hrvatska
Matica hrvatska is one of the oldest Croatian cultural institutions, dating back to 1842. The name is somewhat idiosyncratic, best translated as "The Croatian Centre" . It is the largest publisher of Croatian language books...
under the leadership of Ivan Kukuljević Sakcinski
Ivan Kukuljevic Sakcinski
Ivan Kukuljević Sakcinski was a Croatian historian, politician and writer. Most famous for the first speech delivered in Croatian before the Parliament, this patriot and cultural figure did some pioneering work in Croatian historiography and bibliography...
published his novels Perom i olovkom in (1884) and Ksanta (1888) under the same pseudonym.
Vojnović was the author of dramas of naturalistic cut, inspired by the literary and patriotic traditions of the Republic of Dubrovnik. He is known for his Dubrovačka trilogija (Dubrovnik Trilogy, 1902, Zagreb) - a trilogy in which he describes the fall of the Dubrovnik Republic. His other works include: Death of the Mother of the Jugović (1906) and Resurrection of Lazarus (1913). He is the author of psychological dramas such as: Lady of the Sunflower
The Sunflower Woman
The Sunflower Woman is a 1918 Hungarian film directed by Michael Curtiz. Based on the play by Croatian playwright from Dubrovnik, Ivo Vojnović, the film was shot on location in Dubrovnik.-Cast:* Ivo Badalic* Jenö Balassa* Lucy Doraine* Lajos Kemenes...
(1912; filmed in 1918 by Michael Curtiz
Michael Curtiz
Michael Curtiz was an Academy award winning Hungarian-American film director. He had early creditsas Mihály Kertész and Michael Kertész...
), and of pieces such as: Dance of Masks in the Attic (1922), which reflect the influence of Luigi Pirandello
Luigi Pirandello
Luigi Pirandello was an Italian dramatist, novelist, and short story writer awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1934, for his "bold and brilliant renovation of the drama and the stage." Pirandello's works include novels, hundreds of short stories, and about 40 plays, some of which are written...
on Vojnović. Vojnović died in Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
in 1929, blind and stricken with illness.
His grandson was the noted Russian writer and dissident Vladimir Voinovich
Vladimir Voinovich
Vladimir Nikolayevich Voinovich is a Russian writer and a dissident...
.
External links
- http://www4.dubrovnik-festival.hr/default.asp?ru=&akcija=ART&idf=369&gl=200503070000019&sid=&jezik=1
- http://www.crohis.com/svellic13/vojnovic.htm
- http://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=80202