ZAGREB, April 1 (Hina) - An English translation of part of great Croatian Renaissance poet Marko Marulic's most famous poem has been published in the latest quadruple issue of "Most/The Bridge", a Croatian literary magazine in
English.
ZAGREB, April 1 (Hina) - An English translation of part of great
Croatian Renaissance poet Marko Marulic's most famous poem has been
published in the latest quadruple issue of "Most/The Bridge", a
Croatian literary magazine in English.#L#
The magazine's latest issue was presented in the Croatian Writers'
Society in Zagreb on Friday, alongside two publications issued to
mark the 550th anniversary of Marulic's birth.
In translating 300 lines of Marulic's "Judith", Graham McMaster has
succeeded in providing an English equivalent of Marulic's double-
rhymed twelve-syllable verse and put across the work's "deep"
rhythm, editor Ivo Zanic said at the presentation.
Alongside the translated verse, also presented were works on
Marulic. Among them were "Colloqvia Marvliana", a yearbook by the
Split Literary Circle with four-language appendixes, and an
anthology of selected poetry and prose in Croatian.
On 516 pages, the yearbook collects works from "Marko Marulic -
Croatian Poet and Catholic Humanist", a seminar held in two parts,
in Rome and Split in 1998 and 1999, and contains 41 contribution
from Croatian and foreign experts, of which most are in Croatian and
Italian, and some in French and German.
The marking of the Marulic anniversary will also include the
presentation of the ninth "Colloqvia Marvliana" issue in Rome on
April 11, and an April 27-29 seminar in Split, which is to gather 33
experts from Croatia and seven other countries.
Friday's presentation of the latest works on Marulic also marked
the centennial of the establishment of the Croatian Writers'
Society.
The anniversary of Marulic's birth will be marked throughout the
year with international seminars, exhibitions, and other events
held under the auspices of the UNESCO.
Marulic, whom the Croatian people honoured by naming him the Father
of Croatian Literature, Croatia's Dante, and Marul the Great, is
the most read and published Croatian author of all time. Some of his
works have had up to 100 editions.
Marulic had been a judge and a lawyer. He made a name for himself as a
humanist and man-of-letters among Croats and the Renaissance
Europe.
His works in Latin, mostly moralistic, were translated into many
European languages and had numerous editions. His philosophical
and theological book entitled "On the Institution of Good Living"
was published in fifteen editions and translated in Italian,
French, Portuguese, German, and the Czech. He had been the
first to use the word psychology in "The Psychology of the Reason of
the Human Soul".
In 1501, Marulic wrote his most important Croatian work, the epic
poem "Judith", which was published in 1521 as a form of
encouragement to his countrymen in their struggle against the
Turks. "Judith" was written for those who did not know Latin. The
response was immediate, Croatia's first printed literary work
enjoyed three editions in two years.
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