Croatian Language and Literature Review

Vocabulary flashcards covering Croatian punctuation, literary history periods, movements, and key authors/concepts.

Spojnica

A shorter dash used in Croatian for semi-compounds (polusloženice) such as spomen-ploča, rok-scena, and hrvatsko-slovenska granica.

Crtica

A longer dash written with spaces around it, used in Croatian to denote ranges such as od do 1813. – 1860.

Suprotne rečenice

Adversative compound sentences in Croatian introduced by conjunctions a, ali, nego, no, and već, which require a comma before them.

Isključne rečenice

Exclusive compound sentences in Croatian introduced by conjunctions samo, samo što, jedino, jedino što, tek, and tek što, requiring a comma.

Zaključne rečenice

Consecutive/conclusive compound sentences in Croatian introduced by conjunctions dakle, stoga, and zato, requiring a comma.

Antika

The period of classical antiquity (8th century BC – 476 AD) covering Greek and Roman literature, where man is at the center (čovjek je u središtu) and mythological oral literature predominated.

Heksametar

A verse form consisting of 6 feet (6 stopa) featuring quantitative versification, used in epic poetry like Homer's Iliada and Odiseja.

In medias res

A classical narrative convention of beginning a story in the middle of the action.

Deus ex machina

A plot device where an unexpected power, god, or event is introduced to resolve a seemingly hopeless situation.

Quid pro quo

A Latin expression meaning exchanging one thing for another ("koji za koje").

Srednji vijek

The Middle Ages (5th – 15th century), characterized as a dark age with anonymous literature where God, faith, and the church were at the center instead of the individual.

Inkunabule

Early printed books (prvotisak) produced between the invention of the printing press in 1455 and the year 1500.

Lucidar

A notable medieval encyclopedia (srednjovjekovna enciklopedija).

Srednji vijek u Hrvatskoj

The medieval period in Croatia (7th century – 1508) characterized as tri-scriptural (Latin, Cyrillic/Western Bosančica, Glagolitic) and tri-lingual (Latin, Croatian, Old Church Slavonic).

Bašćanska ploča

An essential Croatian Glagolitic monument created around 1100 AD.

Vaganti

A medieval poetic movement associated with the collection Carmina Burana at the end of the Middle Ages.

Trubaduri

Troubadours writing in the national language who established the "cult of the lady" (kult dame) depicting unrequited love, directly influencing Francesco Petrarca.

Talijanski trolist

The Italian Triad of the Humanism and Pre-Renaissance era: Dante Alighieri (Beatrice), Francesco Petrarca (Laura), and Giovanni Boccaccio (pioneer of the novella).

Humanizam i predrenesansa

A movement originating in Italy (late 13th and 14th century) where Humanism focused on man in Latin, while Renaissance meant rebirth/renewal (preporod ili obnova) using the national language.

Talijanski ili Petrarcin sonet

An Italian/Petrarchan sonnet structure consisting of 14 hendecasyllabic lines (jedanaesterac) arranged in 2 quatrains (katrena) and 2 tercets (tersine).

Dolce stil novo

The "Sweet New Style" (Slatki novi stil) in which women were portrayed as spiritually and physically perfect, pure, sinless, and often equaled with the divine.

Renesansa

The Renaissance period (15th – 16th century), marked by human-centered themes, imitation of ancient models, and the year 1616 marking the deaths of Cervantes and Shakespeare.

Elizabetanski ili Shakespeareov sonet

An Elizabethan/Shakespearean sonnet structure of 14 lines divided into 3 quatrains (katrena) and 1 rhyming couplet (distih).

Manirizam

Mannerism; a transitional period from Renaissance to Baroque dominated by questions on the meaning of human existence, pessimism, and life's transience.

Petrarhizam

A literary term/eponym derived from the personal name of Francesco Petrarca, written with a lowercase initial letter.

Dvostrukorimovani dvanaesterac

A double-rhymed dodecasyllable verse form characteristic of Renaissance literature in Croatia (15th – 16th century).

Barok

The Baroque period (late 16th – 17th century), derived from "baroko" (irregular pearl), prominent in Catholic Counter-Reformation countries (Italy, Spain, Croatia) and marked by pessimism, spirituality, concetti, and ornate style.

Marinizam i Gongorizam

Eponymous Baroque poetic schools characterized by ornate, artificial language (artificijelan jezik) and elevated style.

Ozaljski književni krug

The Ozalj Literary Circle of the Croatian Baroque, known for creating and using a hybrid language (hibridni jezik).

Klasicizam i prosvjetiteljstvo

Classicism and Enlightenment (late 17th – 18th century France), emphasizing reason, decorum (načelo doličnosti), high ethical convictions, education, and encyclopedias.

Aristotelovo trojedinstvo

Aristotle's three classical unities of drama followed in Classicism: unity of time, place, and action (vremena, mjesta i događaja).

Hrvatska književnost u 18. st.

18th-century Croatian literature characterized by territorial fragmentation (teritorijalna rascjepljenost) and stylistic pluralism (stilski pluralizam).

Sturm und Drang

A German pre-romantic movement (predromantizam, 1770–1785) centered on emotion, hypersensitivity, alienated individuals, folklore, and works like Goethe's Patnje mladog Werthera.

Weltschmerz

A German term meaning world-pain or world-weariness (svjetska bol), typical of the pre-romantic feeling in Sturm und Drang.

Hrvatski narodni preporod

The Croatian National Revival (1813–1860) featuring patriotic songs (budnice, davorije) and a struggle for national identity and language.

Protorealizam / Šenoino doba

Proto-Realism or the Age of Šenoa in Croatian literature, spanning from 1860 to 1881.

Realizam

A literary movement (1830–1870 in Europe; 1881–1892 in Croatia) defined by principles of typicality, objectivity, social themes, and socio-psychological characterization.

Naturalizam

A movement (1870–1890) emphasizing biological motivation of characters and the aesthetics of ugliness (estetika ružnoće).