Antun Nemčić Gostovinski (; 14 January 1813 – 5 September 1849) was a

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

n writer. He was born in Edde, Hungary. He graduated law in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

. As a trainee lawyer, notary and a district judge he served in

Križevci Križevci (; la, Crisium; hu, Kőrös ; german: Kreutz ) is a city in central Croatia with a total population of 21,122 and with 11,231 in the city itself (2011), the oldest city in its county, the Koprivnica-Križevci County. History The f ...

, Osekovo,

Novi Marof Novi may refer to the following : Places and jurisdictions Balkans * Novi Grad, Bosnia and Herzegovina * Novi Sad, a city in Serbia * the former Catholic Diocese of Novi, with see at Herceg-Novi (Castelnuovo), in Montenegro; now a Latin titu ...

and

Ludbreg Ludbreg is a town in Croatia, located halfway between Varaždin and Koprivnica near the river Drava. It has 3,603 inhabitants, and a total of 8,478 in the entire municipality (census 2011). History For centuries Ludbreg has been a popular pla ...

. In 1848 he was elected as a representative in the

Croatian Parliament The Croatian Parliament ( hr, Hrvatski sabor) or the Sabor is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of Croatia. Under the terms of the Croatian Constitution, the Sabor represents the people and is vested with legislative power. The Sabor ...

. Nemčić's literary opus is described as one of the few that transcended the pragmatic and revivalist function of the

Illyrian movement The Illyrian movement ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Ilirski pokret, Илирски покрет; sl, Ilirsko gibanje) was a pan-South-Slavic cultural and political campaign with roots in the early modern period, and revived by a group of young Croatian inte ...

. His first poems were published in ''

Danica ilirska Danica ilirska was the first Croatian literary magazine launched on 10 January 1835 as a weekly supplement to ''Novine horvatske'' newspaper in Zagreb, the Kingdom of Croatia (Habsburg), Kingdom of Croatia. It was initially published under the tit ...

'' (1839), and until his death he had made a sizeable poetic opus, mostly covering romantic love motifs. These were posthumously assembled in the book ''Pjesme'' ("Poems", 1851). His ''Putositnice'' (1845) is a canonical work of Croatian

romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

. It is a travelogue modeled on

Laurence Sterne Laurence Sterne (24 November 1713 – 18 March 1768), was an Anglo-Irish novelist and Anglican cleric who wrote the novels ''The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman'' and ''A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy'', published ...

's '' Sentimental Journey''. The rest of Nemčić's opus is fragmentary and incomplete: the second part of ''Putositnice'' (''Neven'', 1852), five fragments of ''Udes ljudski'' (''Neven'', 1854 ) – one of the first attempts at the modern novel in Croatian literature, written also in antimimetic tradition of Laurence Sterne – and a drama ''Kvas bez kruha ili Tko će biti veliki sudac?'' (''Neven'', 1854), a successful farcical comedy which ironizes Croatian political life and electoral machinations. He has written a number of

feuilleton A ''feuilleton'' (; a diminutive of french: feuillet, the leaf of a book) was originally a kind of supplement attached to the political portion of French newspapers, consisting chiefly of non-political news and gossip, literature and art criti ...

s and newspaper articles, and a critical biography ''Život Tome Blažeka'' (in the book ''Političke pjesme Tome Blažeka'', 1848). Nemčić served as the model for the character of Antun Gostinski, the narrator of the novel ''Ispovijest'' by Blaž Lorković (''Dragoljub'', 1868). He died in Križevci.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Antun Nemcic 19th-century Croatian poets 1813 births 1849 deaths Croatian male poets 19th-century male writers People from Somogy County