Ivan Gundulić
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ivan (Dživo) Gundulić (Italian: Giovanni Gondola) (January 9, 1589 – December 8, 1638) is the most celebrated Croatian Baroque poet from the Ragusa Republic. His work embodies central characteristics of Catholic Counter-Reformation: religious fervor, insistence on "vanity of this world" and zeal in opposition to "infidels". Gundulić's major works, the epic poem Osman, the pastoral play Dubravka, and the religious poem Tears of the prodigal son (based on the famous Biblical motif) are examples of Baroque stylistic richness and, frequently, rhetorical excess.
Contents |
[edit] Life and works
Ivan Gundulić was born in a wealthy Ragusa/Dubrovnik noble family ( see House of Gundulić) in 8 January 1589. Son of Francesco Gundulić (senator and diplomat, once the Ragusan envoy to Constantinople and councillor of the republic to the Pope Gregory VIII) and Djiva Gradic (de Gradi). Gave him an excellent education. He studied the humanities with the Jesuit, Father Muzzi, and philosophy with Father Ricasoli. After that he studied Roman law and jurisprudence in general, where he held numerous offices for the Great Council of the Republic. When he was nineteen (in 1608) he became a member of the Veliko vijece (Great Council); twice, in 1615 and 1619, he held the temporary function of knez (commissary or governor) of Konavle, an area southeast of the city. He married with Nika Sorkočević (Sorgo) and had 3 sons, Šiško (Segismondo), Matheo and Frano (Francesco). Francesco Gundulić and Matheo Gundulić fougth in the thirty-years war under the Wallenstein and the youngest died in 1682 in the Supreme office of the Rector of the Republic. From 1621 until his death he held some office in the city government every year; in 1636 he became a senator, in 1637 a judge, in 1638 a member of the Small Council (Malo vijeće). Had he lived a little longer, he would probably have been elected knez of the Dubrovnik Republic, the highest function that was held for one month only by meritorious, at least fifty-year-old gentlemen. His father, who died in 1624, had been knez five times, and Ivan's son Šiško Gundulic (Segismondo Gondola) later four times. He began his literary career by writing poems and showing melodramas in Dubrovnik that became famous. But Ivan published only his larger works. His earlier opus, which he referred to as the "brood of darkness", is now lost. His first publications were in 1621, when he rewrote several of David's Psalms and wrote several religious poems, and then the wrote his famous Suze sina razmetnoga (Tears of the Prodigal Son) in 1622, composed of three "Cries": Sagriješenje (Sin), Spoznanje (Insight) and Skrušenje (Humility). In this poem Ivan presented the three basic categories of Christian faith: sin, repentance and redemption through contrasts like death/life, sin/purity, Hell/Heaven.
[edit] Dubravka
His most famous play is Dubravka, a pastoral written in 1628, where Ivan cherishes the former glory of Dubrovnik and uses contrasts like freedom/slavery, beauty/ugliness, truth/lies. It contains some of the most famous verses in Croatian literature:
|
Verses in Croatian
|
English translation
|
The first verse is often considered as the unofficial motto of Dubrovnik.
[edit] Osman
In his greatest work, Osman, Ivan presented the contrasts between Christianity and Islam, Europe and Turks, East and West, freedom and slavery... Osman had 20 cantos, but the 14th and the 15th were never found. Judging from the modern perspective, two approaches seem to dominate the contemporary appraisal of Gundulić's poetry: on one hand, his poetic influence has dimmed due to a change in aesthetic sensibility (Gundulić's chief literary predecessor and influence, Torquato Tasso, has undergone similar reassessment, but his artistic integrity and individuality have withstood the test of time better); on the other hand, Gundulić's role in the final standardisation of the Croatian language cannot be overemphasized.
Osman is firmly rooted within the rich literary tradition of the Croatian Baroque in Dubrovnik and Dalmatia and is considered as one of its apogees. By presenting the contrast of struggle between Christianity and Islam, Ivan continued Marko Marulić's glorification of the fights against the invading Ottoman Turks. Besides magnifying Slavdom and the battles against the conquerors, Ivan described the life of the Ottoman sultan Osman II. Dživo constantly reminds the read of the wheel of fortune and how the world is transient and how none explains the ways of History except God.
Osman begins with the Sultan's grasping of the situation caused by the 1621 Ottoman defeat at Chocim and descriptions of how the era of pre-Ottoman glory of the Bulgarians, Serbs, Hungarians, Albanians and especially Poles could be easily restored. According to the storyline, Sultan Osman dispatched Ali-pasha to the Kingdom of Poland in order to negotiate peace and Kazlar-aga to choose which Polish noblewoman would suit him best for marriage. Ivan described the travels of both Ali-pasha and Kazlar-aga, paying much attention to the battle of Chocim and to the descriptions of enslaved Slavs that suffer under Ottoman rule. Even though peace was concluded, there was a rebellion amongst the military ranks and after numerous failed attempts to restore order in the Empire, the Army captures Osman and executes him, bringing the imprisoned Mustafa as the new Sultan. Ivan described the Polish king Władysław as a new chance for the Slavic people. It was the culminating point of the Croatian belief that the force of Polish Catholic armies could save the entire Slav world, in accordance with Gundulić's Counter-Reformation world view.
[edit] Post mortem
Osman was printed for the first time in Ragusa in 1826, the two missing cantos being replaced by poems written by the poet Pietro Sorgo (1749-1826) or Sorkochevich, who was a direct descendant of Ivan Gundulic by maternal line (his son Segismondo Gondola). Other direct descendant, baron Biagio Ghetaldi (grandson of Catterina de Gondola, sister of Segismondo Domenico de Gondola), make a hexameter treaty into Osman in 1865. Ironically, Osman was not published in the integral edition until 1844, when the Croatian Illyrian movement took Gundulić's oeuvre as a role model of what they initially deemed Illyrian literary language, later standardized as Croatian and influencing Serbian. One of the leading Illyrian men of letters, politician, linguist and poet Ivan Mažuranić, successfully completed Gundulić's Osman by composing the last two chapters, which were left unfinished upon the poet's death.
The monument to Gundulić was unveiled on July 25, 1893, in Dubrovnik's largest square, Poljana. The event, which was politically charged as it brought to surface the tensions between the Croats and the Serbs, is described in detail here: Unveiling of the Gundulić monument.
[edit] List of works
- Suze sina razmetnoga - poem (1622)
- Dubravka - pastoral drama (1628)
- Osman - Baroque epic
[edit] Legacy
The picture of Ivan Gundulić appears on the 50 kuna banknote.
[edit] External links
- Ivan Gundulić in the Online Edition Encyclopedia Britannica
- Ivan Gundulić in the Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia 2004
- Ivan Gundulić in Encyclopaedia Britannica 1911
[edit] References
- Istorija književnosti za I razred zajedničkih osnova usmerenog obrazovanja, Jovan Deretić and Marija Mitrović, Belgrade, 1984
