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Author: dr. Ma\u0161a Grde\u0161i\u0107, University of Zagreb<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Marija Juri\u0107 Zagorka – one of the most popular Croatian writers of all times<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Marija Juri\u0107 Zagorka (1873-1957) is one of the most important Croatian public figures in the 20th century. She was a writer, journalist and political activist. In all her endeavours, Zagorka consistently championed Croatian political independence, advocated women’s and workers\u2019 rights, and promoted social justice. As an author of popular historical romances, Marija Juri\u0107 Zagorka was often under attack from journalists and literary critics who proclaimed her novels \u201ctrash for peasant women\u201d. In this excerpt from her autobiography \u201cKako je bilo\u201d (How it was, 1953), Zagorka defends her writing through the defense of her wide audience, which has always adored her work. In her writing, Zagorka strived to educate her readers about Croatian history, the fight for national independence, as well as women\u2019s and workers\u2019 rights, always presenting these important political issues in the form of thrilling adventures and exciting love stories. Marija Juri\u0107 Zagorka in her own words<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Besides writing many popular historical novels, Croatian author Marija Juri\u0107 Zagorka was a prolific journalist. She was the founder and editor of two of Croatia’s earliest women’s magazines, \u201c\u017denski list\u201d (Woman’s Paper, 1925-1938) and \u201cHrvatica\u201d (Croatian Woman, 1938-1941). We invite you to read more about \u201c\u017denski list\u201d and find out where Zagorka stood on the \u201cBubikopf\u201d debate in Marina Vujnovi\u0107\u2019s doctoral dissertation \u201cForging the Bubikopf nation: a feminist political-economic analysis of \u017denski list\u201d (2008, University of Iowa, chapter 4):<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe new hair style was there to represent more than just a fashionable vanity, but (\u2026) it came to represent liberation from gendered oppression; it represented modernity in which even time had become a consumer good; and, finally, it represented, in the feminist political-economic sense, a new woman in the working public sphere who needed the Bubikopf as a powerful symbol to alleviate the real traditional unequal position of women in society. The new hair style wasn\u2019t only a gendered statement. It symbolized the class differentiation between the new working women and the ladies from the higher social class.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She began her extensive journalistic career in 1896 in \u201cObzor\u201d (The Horizon), a leading Croatian newspaper, where she had to face many hardships: gender discrimination, contempt from colleagues, accusations of immoral behaviour, political persecution, and meagre wages, but through hard work and incredible persistence Zagorka became the first woman journalist in Croatia. In 1903, during the period of people’s revolt against the Hungarian ban Khuen H\u00e9derv\u00e1ry, Zagorka singlehandedly edited \u201cObzor\u201d for five months while her male colleagues were in jail, and even spent ten days in jail herself. She also organized a women’s protest against ban Khuen. Zagorka gained international fame as a foreign correspondent reporting from the Croatian-Hungarian Parliament in Budapest in 1906. In 1909, she also reported from Vienna on the so-called Friedjung Process.
Zagorka predominantly wrote historical romances but her novels were not moralistic and pious in tone \u2013 they were politically subversive. This is accomplished through the construction of active heroines, who participate not only in the romance plot but in significant historical events as well. Zagorka started writing popular fiction in 1910, when she published the first Croatian crime novel, \u201cKneginja iz Petrinjske ulice\u201d (The Countess of Petrinjska Street). Her first popular historical romance, \u201cTajna Krvavog mosta\u201d (The Secret of Bloody Bridge Street), was published in 1911 and would later become part of her most famous novel in seven volumes, \u201cGri\u010dka vje\u0161tica\u201d (The Witch of Gri\u010d), which deals with the persecution of so-called witches in 18th century Croatia. She is also the author of the first Croatian science fiction novel, \u201cCrveni ocean\u201d (The Red Ocean) published in 1918. Her novel \u201cGordana\u201d, comprising 12 volumes and almost 9000 pages, is the longest novel written in the Croatian language and among the longest in the world. Zagorka remains the most popular and widely read Croatian author.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYes! It is true! I write for the audience, for the people \u2013 because I am a part of them and nothing else. Yes! It is true! I cater to the instincts of a broad audience, because their instincts are also my own. And what instincts are those? Freedom! Justice! A longing for honesty! The desire for goodness and the firm belief that goodness must one day defeat evil! And who is that audience? And who are these broad masses, for whom I have written and for whom I write? They are the ones who have ideals \u2013 they carry flags, they are willing to be locked up for them, shot for them! These are very, very noble people and to serve them, to be allowed and able to write for them, is a very great honor and an amazing grace.\u201d (translated by Ma\u0161a Grde\u0161i\u0107)<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/ceepuswwih.ung.si\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/zagorka-fotografija.jpg\")
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