Summary
Aesthetics and poetics in the Croatian literature of the 19th century
Although under the influence of classical poetics of antiquity and the Renaissance, and especially under the influence of formalist German aesthetics, several indispensable philological-philosophical texts stand out on the nature of literature, the general rules for a well-made creation and on selected genres as models of transforming reality into an aesthetic ideal. Regardless of the fact that they are not original philosophical studies, in our cultural space at that time they were the first texts in recent Croatian literature that discuss the artistically perfect, outside the pressures of political-national programs and the interests of parties and individuals. These are the texts: Ognjeslav Utješinović: Ostrožinski, Misli o krasnijeh umjetnosti 1845, Emanuel Sladović: Instruction in the art of poetry 1852, Ivan Macun, Short rhetoric 1852, August Šenoa: Poetics, preface to the Anthology of Croatian and Serbian poetry 1876, Janko Jurković: About the National Komus 1869, Janko Jurković: About Aesthetics of lofty terms in 1870, Janko Jurković: About female characters in our folk songs in 1874, Janko Jurković: About the metaphor of our language in 1875. All of them have never been published after their first publication, so the majority of the philological profession knows little or nothing about them. The full title of the selection is: Aesthetic and poetic debates in Croatian literature of the 19th century.
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