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Renata Zupan, Toronto
2005-10-23
The Croatian Academy of America published volume 43 of the Journal of
Croatian Studies, an annual interdisciplinary periodical dedicated to
Croatian studies.
This exceptional volume includes contributions on recent Bosnian history;
towering cultural figures such as Ivo Andric, Tin Ujevic, Ruder Boskovic,
and Josip Juraj Strossmayer; the Croatian Renaissance; and Istrian history
at the close of World War II when the Allies established a military
government in Pula.
Former Bosnian Ambassador to the EU and NATO, Miles Vitomir Raguz, opens the
volume with an examination of Croatia’s decisive role in saving
Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1995 through Operation Storm. Coming less than a month
after the Srebrenica massacre and an imminent attack on the UN safe haven of
Bihac, it completely altered the balance of power in the region and brought
about the conditions for peace. Details the diplomatic meetings between
Croatia and the United States, as far back as 1993, which led to the
strategy of using Croatian forces as a substitute for military power that no
Western country was willing to apply on the ground. While Raguz shows how
peace came about in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Marko Babic, an associate of the
Miroslav Krleza Lexicographical Institute, details the catastrophic results
of the Dayton Peace Accords for the Croatian population of the Bosnian
Posavina region. Compares the ethnic structure of pre- and post-Dayton
Bosnian Posavian revealing that before Serb forces launched their assault,
Croats constituted the largest ethnic group in the region with a population
of 136,266. Five years after the Dayton Peace Accords had given the Posavina
to the Serb entity (“Bosanska Srpska”), only 10,881 Croats remained. Reveals
that out of a pre-war Croatian population of 760,852, almost fifty percent
have been ethnically cleansed from Bosnia-Herzegovina, while only 1,090 have
been allowed to return to their homes in “Bosanska Srpska” as of June 2000.
University of Toronto Professor Ralph Bogert reveals the changes in
reception of the writer Ivo Andric (1892-1975), the only South Slav
recipient of the Nobel Prize for literature. Discusses efforts to claim,
disclaim, and reclaim Andric for Croatian culture and literature, and
concludes that Andric will eventually be treated like other writers whose
works have crossed national boundaries. Harvard University’s Ellen
Elias-Bursac explores Tin Ujevic’s (1891-1955) trajectory from student of
philosophy and literature, through disaster of neglect, to poetry, focusing
on his 1926 collection of poems entitled Kolajna. Shows the significance of
the collection for an understanding of the Ujevic’s development. The third
contribution dealing with literature is University of Waterloo Professor
Vinko Grubisic’s regional survey of the Latin and Italian influences on
Croatian Renaissance writers who belonged to the intellectual universality
of humanist Europe. Grubisic also reviews the book Marko Marulic Marul
(Zagreb, 1999), an up-to-date account of the life and works of the Croatian
Renaissance writer and “father of Croatian literature,” Marko Marulic
(1450-1524) by Mirko Tomasovic, a leading Marulician scholar and editor of
Colloquia Maruliana.
Two giant figures in Croatian history, scientist Ruder Boskovic (1711-1787)
and Bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer (1815-1905), are also featured in the
volume. Well known Croatian linguist from Britain, Branko Franolic, explores
the motives for Boskovic’s traveling to Isaac Newton’s native land. Regarded
as the first to have a scientific vision of the Unified Field Theory
(“Theory of Everything”), Boskovic’s theory of natural philosophy had a deep
impact on leading British scientists and philosophers. Ljerka Dulibic of
Zagreb explores Strossmayer’s role in politics, religion and culture in
Croatia during the latter half of the 19th century. Focuses on his
involvement with the establishment of the University of Zagreb and the
Academy of Sciences and Arts, the construction of the cathedral in Dakovo
and the Academy Palace, the collecting of art work, the founding of art
history studies, and his donation to, and assistance in, establishing what
became known as the Strossmayer Gallery of Old Masters.
In the final contribution, John Peter Kraljic examines the power struggle
over Istria between the Allies, who established an Allied Military
Government (AMG) in Pula in order to secure its lines of communication to
Trieste, and Tito’s Yugoslavia at the close of World War II and during the
emerging Cold War. Discusses the roles played by the Italian, Croat and
Slovene populations in Istria during this period, and the eventual inclusion
of AMG-controlled territories in Yugoslavia.
A review of French intellectual Alain Finkielkraut’s collection of
interviews, commentaries and essays critiquing Western policy toward Croatia
and Bosnia-Herzegovina from 1991-1996, and of a catalogue showcasing
Croatian books published in emigration from 1900-2000 complete the book
review section of this 202-page issue of the Journal of Croatian Studies.
The Croatian Academy of America was established in 1953 and has published
the Journal of Croatian Studies since 1960. Managing editors of the Journal
are Karlo Mirth and Jerome Jareb.
Single issues of the Journal may be ordered at a price of US $25 for
individuals and US $40 for institutions. Due to delays, volume 43 (2002) was
published in 2005.
To order a copy of the Journal contact:
The Croatian Academy of America, Inc.
P.O. Box 1767, Grand Central Station
New York, NY 10163-1767 U.S.A.
Fax (516) 935-0019; e-mail croatacad@aol.com
Web site: www.croatianacademy.org
Articles appearing in the Journal are indexed by ABC-CLIO Historical
Abstracts, MLA International Bibliography of the Modern Languages
Association and Public Affairs Information Service.
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CORP. All rights reserved.
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