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

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

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, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

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

Križevci Križevci (; ; ; ) is a town in northern Croatia with a total population of 21,122 and with 11,231 in the town itself (2011), It is the oldest town in its county, the Koprivnica-Križevci County. History The first mention of "Upper Križeva ...

Osekovo Osekovo is a village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural ar ...

Novi Marof Novi Marof (Kajkavian: ) is a town in north-western Croatia, located south of Varaždin and east of Ivanec, in Varaždin County. It lies on the intersection of state roads D3 road (Croatia), D3 (from south to north) and D24 road (Croatia), D24 (f ...

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 plac ...

. In 1848 he was elected as a representative in the

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

. 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 (; ) was a pan-South-Slavic cultural and political campaign with roots in the early modern period, and revived by a group of young Croatian intellectuals during the first half of the 19th century, around the years of 1835 t ...

. 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. It was initially published under the title of ''Danicza horvatzka, sl ...

'' (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 and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...

. It is a travelogue modeled on

Laurence Sterne Laurence Sterne (24 November 1713 – 18 March 1768) was an Anglo-Irish novelist and Anglican cleric. He is best known for his comic novels ''The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman'' (1759–1767) and ''A Sentimental Journey Thro ...

'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 , 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 criticism, a chronicle ...

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 Poets from the Austrian Empire 1813 births 1849 deaths 19th-century Croatian male writers People from Somogy County Deaths from cholera