Planine
Encyclopedia
Petar Zoranic
Petar Zoranić was a Croatian Renaissance writer from Zadar.He is most important as the author of Planine, the first Croatian novel. Pastoral in nature, the novel shows influence of Virgil, Ovid, Dante Alighieri, Francesco Petrarca and Giovanni Boccaccio. The novel was written in 1538 and published...
in 1536 and published posthumously in Venice in 1569.
It is a pastoral-allegorical novel (a very common type of prose in that period), written in combined prose and verse. Typologically it's a unique piece of its kind in Croatian literature
Croatian literature
Croatian literature is a definition given to the compilation of novels, dramas, short stories, poems and other various work of written kind entirely attributed to the medieval and modern culture of the Croats and the Croatian language....
, with motifs borrowed from Latinate and Italian literatures, with clearly discernible influences of Virgil
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...
, Ovid
Ovid
Publius Ovidius Naso , known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who is best known as the author of the three major collections of erotic poetry: Heroides, Amores, and Ars Amatoria...
, Dante
Dante Alighieri
Durante degli Alighieri, mononymously referred to as Dante , was an Italian poet, prose writer, literary theorist, moral philosopher, and political thinker. He is best known for the monumental epic poem La commedia, later named La divina commedia ...
, Boccaccio
Giovanni Boccaccio
Giovanni Boccaccio was an Italian author and poet, a friend, student, and correspondent of Petrarch, an important Renaissance humanist and the author of a number of notable works including the Decameron, On Famous Women, and his poetry in the Italian vernacular...
, Petrarch
Petrarch
Francesco Petrarca , known in English as Petrarch, was an Italian scholar, poet and one of the earliest humanists. Petrarch is often called the "Father of Humanism"...
, Jacopo Sannazaro
Jacopo Sannazaro
Jacopo Sannazaro was an Italian poet, humanist and epigrammist from Naples.He wrote easily in Latin, in Italian and in Neapolitan, but is best remembered for his humanist classic Arcadia, a masterwork that illustrated the possibilities of poetical prose in Italian, and instituted the theme of...
, as well as domicile writers such as Marko Marulić
Marko Marulic
Marko Marulić |Split]], 18 August 1450 – Split, 5 January 1524) was a Croatian national poet and Christian humanist, known as the Crown of the Croatian Medieval Age and the father of the Croatian Renaissance. He signed his works as Marko Marulić Splićanin , Marko Pečenić, Marcus Marulus ...
and Croatian začinjavci.
The novel is composed of 24 chapters, and the introductory contains a dedication to Matej Matijević, the canon of Nin
Nin, Croatia
Nin is a town in the Zadar county of Croatia, population 1,256 , total municipality population 4,603 .Nin was historically important as a centre of a Christian Bishopric in the Middle Ages. Up to the abolition and Latinization imposed by King Tomislav in the first half of the 10th century, Nin was...
.
Contents
The work tells about poet's imaginary seven-day journey across Croatian mountains on which he embarks in order to forget his love miseries. But, the principle line of the story is patriotic in character.The main hero is the shepherd Zoran (i.e. Zoranić himself), which for seven years has been suffering from unrequited love towards a maiden Jaga. One morning, wandering around, he arrives to a well called Vodica, having gotten bored with his life. Suddenly from a well a fairy Zorica (Napeja) appears, advising him to go for the mountains to find a particular plant which will cure his love pain. Then on a golden apple he makes a notice of a beautiful fairy Grace (Milošća) which transfers him across the seas to Podgorje, where he continues the journey by himself. But, soon he runs into a beast, from which Grace saves him and leads him by safer pathways. Afterwards, he arrives to the Gates of hell (Paklenica
Paklenica
The Paklenica karst river canyon is a national park in Croatia. It is located in Starigrad, northern Dalmatia, at the southern slopes of Velebit mountain, not far from Zadar. It has two canyons: Mala and Velika Paklenica. Today there is no water flowing throughout Mala Paklenica...
), where the fairy tells him a tale on a young maiden Bura
Bora (wind)
Bora or Bura is a northern to north-eastern katabatic wind in the Adriatic, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Italy, Greece, Slovenia, and Turkey....
. The next day Zoran meets a company of shepherds with whom he spends the next three days. On the fifth day, Zoran hears from shepherds a story on the origin of Velebit
Velebit
Velebit is the largest though not the highest mountain range in Croatia. Its highest peak is the Vaganski vrh at 1757 m.The range forms a part of the Dinaric Alps and is located along the Adriatic coast, separating it from Lika in the interior...
and heads further to the east. There he discovers a small group of shepherds that complains of being attacked by the wolves from eastern sides (i.e. Turks
Ottoman Turks
The Ottoman Turks were the Turkish-speaking population of the Ottoman Empire who formed the base of the state's military and ruling classes. Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks is scarce, but they take their Turkish name, Osmanlı , from the house of Osman I The Ottoman...
), which has caused many of the shepherds to flee those areas. The next day Zoran is contacted by a fairy Consciousness (Svist) who directs him to the fairy Dinara
Dinara
Dinara is a mountain located on the border of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. One of its summits, also called Dinara, is the highest point in Croatia at 1,831 m and a prominence of 728 m.-Etymology:...
. Dinara frees him by his magic powers from his love sufferings. Then Zoran dreams a vision of four fairies in a "gardens of Glory" (perivoj od Slave). These are the fairies Latinness (Latinka), Helleness (Grkinja) and Croatess
Croatian language
Croatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...
(Hrvatica). While the first three hold in their arms a handful of golden apples (the symbol of a literary piece), the fairy Croatess is poor and makes a complaint on the small number of literary pieces written in folk language. The sixth day Zoran heads for home, but on his way he meets Dinara's daughter, fairy Krka
Krka
Krka is the name for several rivers :* Krka , tributary of the Adriatic Sea in Croatia* Krka , tributary of the Sava in Slovenia* Gurk River , tributary of the Drava in AustriaOther meanings:...
, which drives him across Knin
Knin
Knin is a historical town in the Šibenik-Knin county of Croatia, located near the source of the river Krka at , in the Dalmatian hinterland, on the railroad Zagreb–Split. Knin rose to prominence twice in history, as a one-time capital of both the Kingdom of Croatia and briefly of the...
, Skradin
Skradin
Skradin is a small town in the Šibenik-Knin county of Croatia it has a population about 3,986 . It is located near the Krka river and at the entrance to the Krka National Park, from Šibenik and from Split...
and 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...
down to the mouth of Krka (where she makes her disappearance). Thence, fairy Grace returns him back to Zaton
Zaton
Zaton can refer to:* Zaton, Dubrovnik-Neretva County, a village located northwest of Dubrovnik, Croatia* Zaton, Šibenik-Knin County, a village located northeast of Vodice, Croatia* Zaton, Zadar County, a village located south of Nin, Croatia...
, the place of his departure. There he finds a grave of Juraj Divnić, the bishop of Nin, and swears to follow the path of Lord's love.
Meaning and edification
Zoranić lived in times of a great danger from invading Ottoman Turks, and that consciousness has inspired his work; it pervaded it with patriotic fervour, against which all poet's personal sufferings, wishes and troubles pale and retreat.Planine are in fact an allegory
Allegory
Allegory is a demonstrative form of representation explaining meaning other than the words that are spoken. Allegory communicates its message by means of symbolic figures, actions or symbolic representation...
: they are a dream, transferred to the alleged Zoran's path from Nin
Nin, Croatia
Nin is a town in the Zadar county of Croatia, population 1,256 , total municipality population 4,603 .Nin was historically important as a centre of a Christian Bishopric in the Middle Ages. Up to the abolition and Latinization imposed by King Tomislav in the first half of the 10th century, Nin was...
across the sea to Starigrad
Starigrad
Starigrad is a municipality in Croatia in the Zadar County. The total population is 1,875 . According to the 2001 census, 95% of the population are Croats.The list of settlements in the municipality is:* Seline, population 454...
under the Velebit
Velebit
Velebit is the largest though not the highest mountain range in Croatia. Its highest peak is the Vaganski vrh at 1757 m.The range forms a part of the Dinaric Alps and is located along the Adriatic coast, separating it from Lika in the interior...
, and thence uphills, over Paklenica
Paklenica
The Paklenica karst river canyon is a national park in Croatia. It is located in Starigrad, northern Dalmatia, at the southern slopes of Velebit mountain, not far from Zadar. It has two canyons: Mala and Velika Paklenica. Today there is no water flowing throughout Mala Paklenica...
, across the Velebit
Velebit
Velebit is the largest though not the highest mountain range in Croatia. Its highest peak is the Vaganski vrh at 1757 m.The range forms a part of the Dinaric Alps and is located along the Adriatic coast, separating it from Lika in the interior...
, and from Lika
Lika
Lika is a mountainous region in central Croatia, roughly bound by the Velebit mountain from the southwest and the Plješevica mountain from the northeast. On the north-west end Lika is bounded by Ogulin-Plaški basin, and on the south-east by the Malovan pass...
to Dinara
Dinara
Dinara is a mountain located on the border of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. One of its summits, also called Dinara, is the highest point in Croatia at 1,831 m and a prominence of 728 m.-Etymology:...
, where he would by the river of Krka
Krka
Krka is the name for several rivers :* Krka , tributary of the Adriatic Sea in Croatia* Krka , tributary of the Sava in Slovenia* Gurk River , tributary of the Drava in AustriaOther meanings:...
settle down to 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...
and thence by the sea back to Nin. Accompanied by stanzas of Petrarchan and pastoral voice, Zoranić's novel, imbuing with life an Arcadian idyll, echoes with "sorrowful shpard's tune of dispersed legacy" (tužbenim pojem pastirov od rasute bašćine), but it also answers the call of fairy Croatess in the gardens of glory (chapter 20): she objurgates Croats who "many sapient and lettered are, who thyself and their tongue joyously appraise and deck apt are" (mnozi mudri i naučeni jesu, ki sebe i jazik svoj zadovoljno pohvaliti i naresiti umili bi) but are ashamed of their Croatian language (jezika hrvackoga) and rather prefer to write in a foreign tongue. So Zoranić, 3 centuries before the advent of Illyrian movement
Illyrian movement
The Illyrian movement , also Croatian national revival , was a cultural and political campaign with roots in the early modern period, and revived by a group of young Croatian intellectuals during the first half of 19th century, around the years of 1835–1849...
, made a defense of the Croatian language
Croatian language
Croatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...
, which is one of the most important attributes of this piece.