Marija Jurić Zagorka

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Marija Jurić, pen-name Zagorka, (January 1, 1873 – November 30, 1957) was a Croatian journalist, novelist and dramatist. She was one of the first popular female journalists and writers in Croatia.

Marija Jurić was born in the village of Negovec near Vrbovec, to a wealthy family, as her father worked as a foreman on baron Rauch's estate. She was schooled in Varaždin and Zagreb, but left school at the age of fifteen due to issues with her family. Between 1891 and 1894 she was married to a Hungarian railway clerk, but the marriage ended abruptly with her escape from the house, first to Sremska Mitrovica and then to Zagreb.

None of her novels have been translated into English, but two are available in German: The Witch of Gric (1995) and Malleus Maleficarum (1972). The latter title is the same as that of the "textbook" published in 1488 about how to find the witches, though Zagorka's novel is a fictional tale, not a witch-hunting manual.

16 of her novels are found in the Library of Congress but only in the original language.

She died in Zagreb at the age of 84.

[edit] Works

• "Kneginja iz Petrinjske ulice" (The Princess from Petrinska Street): Zagorka's only murder mystery.
• "Grička vještica" - cycle of 7 novels

(Tajna Krvavog mosta, Kontesa Nera, Malleus Maleficarum, Suparnica Marije Terezije I, Suparnica Marije Terezije II, Dvorska kamarila, Buntovnik na prijestolju) - Zagorka's most popular work, it tells the story of headstrong feminist Nera. When Nera's condemnation of witch-burnings becomes too vociferous, she too is accused of witchcraft. Her secret admirerer Captain Siniša Vojkffy comes to the rescue. Nera eventually persuades Empress Maria Theressa to stop witchburnings, but in doing so becomes caught in a web of imperial intrigue that threatens to destroy the happiness she has fought so hard to attain. The story ends with a look into the tragic life and reign of Emperor Joseph II, the "Rebel on the Throne."

• "Kći Lotrščaka" - deals with a nationalist uprising in protest of the pilaging practices of Margrave Georg von Brandenburg. A dark night called the "Antichrist" arrives to help the suffering peasants...but who is to be trusted: the Antichrist, or the Catholic priests who condemn him?
• "Plameni inkvizitori" (The Flaming Inquisitors) also called "Kameni Križari" (The Stone Crusaders). The story centers around a masked hero "Vitez Sokol" (Sir Falcon) and the infamous Robber Baron Tomo Crni.
• "Gordana" - Zagorka's longest work, dealing with the death of Arpad King Matthias Corvinus, the struggle between Corvinus's widow Beatrice of Naples and his illegitimate son Janos for the throne, and the events leading up to the Battle of Mohac in the early 16th century. The novel tells the story of the Croatian spirit through the fictional heroine Gordana Brezovačka and her undying national pride.
• "Republikanci" deals with the Napoleanic wars and the pro-Illyrian nationalistic movement led by Croatian Ban Maksimilijan Vrhovac.
• "Vitez slavonske ravni" (The Knight of the Slavonian plain) Set in the time of Maria Theresa. A ruthless bandit terrorizes Slavonia and the legal authorities are helpless. A mysterious figure emerges as the only one able to resist, but who is he?
• "Jadranka" - Zagorka's final novel, dealing with the repression of Croatian nationalist movements under the reign of Emperor Franz Joseph.
• "Roblje"
• "Kamen na cesti" (A Stone on the Street)- an autobiographical novel detailing the author's life, as seen through the story of a young Croatian girl forced to mary a dominering Hungarian man
• "Mala revolucionarka"

[edit] External links

• Translation of a chapter of Zagorka's The Secret of the Bloody Bridge

Persondata
NAME	Jurić, Marija
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Zagorka (pen name)
SHORT DESCRIPTION	journalist, novelist, dramatist
DATE OF BIRTH	January 1, 1873
PLACE OF BIRTH	Negovec, Croatia
DATE OF DEATH	November 30, 1957
PLACE OF DEATH	Zagreb, Croatia