Fran Galović (, 20 July 1887 – 26 October 1914) was a Croatian poet, playwright, writer, and theater critic.

Biography

Galović was born in Peteranec near

Koprivnica Koprivnica () is a city in Northern Croatia, located 70 kilometers northeast of Zagreb. It is the capital and the largest city of Koprivnica-Križevci County. In 2011, the city's administrative area of 90.94 km2 had a total populati ...

, the only son of Stjepan, a well-off peasant, and Dora (). He studied

Slavistics Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics, is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic peoples, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or Slavicist was ...

and

philology Philology () is the study of language in Oral tradition, oral and writing, written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also de ...

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 ...

, focusing primarily on the

Croatian language Croatian (; ) is the standard language, standardised Variety (linguistics)#Standard varieties, variety of the Serbo-Croatian pluricentric language mainly used by Croats. It is the national official language and literary standard of Croatia, o ...

and

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

, with classical philology of

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

and

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

as secondary focuses. During his studies, he joined the youth wing of the

Party of Rights The Party of Rights () was a Croatian nationalism, Croatian nationalist political party in Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia and later in Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. It was founded in 1861 by Ante Starčević and Eugen Kvaternik, two influ ...

movement and became editor for its magazine, ('Young Croatia'). However, due to his participation in a student strike, he spent his fourth semester in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

. In 1909, he voluntarily registered for military service, serving as a

reservist A reservist is a person who is a member of a military reserve force. They are otherwise civilians, and in peacetime have careers outside the military. Reservists usually go for training on an annual basis to refresh their skills. This person ca ...

cadet for the in

Sisak Sisak (; also known by other alternative names) is a city in central Croatia, spanning the confluence of the Kupa, Sava and Odra rivers, southeast of the Croatian capital Zagreb, and is usually considered to be where the Posavina (Sava basin ...

. In 1913, he finished his studies in philology and began teaching at the . In 1914, he finished his Slavistics studies and continued his critical works. By autumn of 1914, Galović was mobilized and served as a

warrant officer Warrant officer (WO) is a Military rank, rank or category of ranks in the armed forces of many countries. Depending on the country, service, or historical context, warrant officers are sometimes classified as the most junior of the commissioned ...

during the

Serbian campaign The Serbian campaign was a series of military expeditions launched in 1914 and 1915 by the Central Powers against the Kingdom of Serbia during the First World War. The first campaign began after Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on 28 ...

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. He was killed in combat on 26 October 1914, in

Mačva Mačva ( sr-Cyrl, Мачва, ; ) is a geographical and historical region in the northwest of Central Serbia, on a fertile plain between the Sava (river), Sava and Drina rivers. The chief town is Šabac. The modern Mačva District of Serbia is nam ...

near Radenković. A day earlier, he had written to his friend and fellow writer Milan Ogrizović: Galović was buried on 31 October 1914 in

Mirogoj Cemetery The Mirogoj City Cemetery (, ), also known as Mirogoj Cemetery (), is a cemetery park that is considered to be among the more noteworthy landmarks in the city of Zagreb. The cemetery inters members of all religious groups: Catholic, Orthodox, M ...

Publications

Only four of Galović's books were published during his lifetime: ''Tamara'' (1907), ('Four Cities', 1913), ('The Enchanted Mirror', 1913) and ('Confession', 1914). Although most of his poems were written in his native

Kajkavian Kajkavian is a South Slavic languages, South Slavic supradialect or language spoken primarily by Croats in much of Central Croatia and Gorski Kotar. It is part of the South Slavic dialect continuum, being transitional to the supradialects of Č ...

dialect, only his Štokavian poetry was published while he was still alive. In one of his

collections, ('From My Little Hills'), Galović repeated some motifs known from his Štokavian poetry: the drama of leaving the homeland, the impossibility of return, the unattainability of happiness, the anxiety of losing one's roots, the tragedy of transience. In some poems, impressionistic images of idyllic homeland predominate and some resemble expressionist miniatures with a strong charge of apart sensibility (lonely premonitions of death, unknown "something", pictorial and sound grotesque). Acting in the era of Croatian modernity, he accepted a variety of artistic and aesthetic programs. That is why his works are marked by stylistic searches in a thematic range from ancient mythology to the twilight atmospheres of European symbolism. Galović's legacy in

Croatian literature Croatian literature refers to literary works attributed to the medieval and modern culture of the Croats, Croatia, and Croatian language, Croatian. Besides the modern language whose shape and orthography were standardized in the late 19th centu ...

remains strong. Since 1994, a yearly celebration of his work — called "Galović's Autumn" () — is hosted by the Croatian Ministry of Culture and Media and the city of

Works

*Tamara *Četiri grada *Začarano ogledalo *Ispovijed Posthumously:

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* *

External links

*http://frangalovic.net/
enciklopedija.hr
Croatian writers 1887 births 1914 deaths Austro-Hungarian military personnel killed in World War I Writers from Austria-Hungary Burials at Mirogoj Cemetery {{Croatia-writer-stub