Jankovo ljetovanje by Franjo Ciraki: a proposal for reevaluation

Pavličić, Pavao. (2017). Jankovo ljetovanje by Franjo Ciraki: a proposal for reevaluation. Croatica: časopis za hrvatski jezik, književnost i kulturu, 41(61). pp. 199-223. ISSN 1849-1111

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Abstract

The paper analyzes and interprets one of Franjo Ciraki’s most interesting works, Jankovo ljetovanje (Požega, 1905), which up to this point hasn’t been thoroughly studied and evaluated. This literary text from the modernist period, generically labeled as a narrative in verse, was systematically overlooked by literary historians due to its ties with more traditional poetics. The analysis in this paper focuses on the text’s content and composition and particularly on the motivational system of the story which is marked by the absence of a distinctive dynamic principle, in respect to the plot but also to the main character. Even though the plot analysis reveals many similarities with the 19th century Croatian narratives, the paper also points out differences between Jankovo ljetovanje and its contemporary narrative models: in his narrative Ciraki does not set out to influence social reality (the lack of social engagement) and his verse (asymmetric decasyllable) functions as a signal of his ties with older tradition, a universal means of expression unburdened by poetic conventions and a sign of subjectivity and universal topics perceived through the philosophical discourse of the antique. The paper goes on to determine generic and literary identity of the poem as well as its reception. By renouncing affiliation with standard generic labels (epic poem, novel or novella in verse, narrative in verse), the poem Jankovo ljetovanje resides in the peripheral region between literature and popular writing, and its marginal (literary) position is anchored in its paratextual (subtitle, author’s biography) and metatextual parts which represent the main text and steer its reception. Therefore, the subtitle modern idyll establishes intertextual ties with tradition and achieves a humorous effect; a pseudonym Požežanin (a man from the town of Požega) represents the author as a citizen rather than an artist, a small town man rather than a writer, and the narrator’s topoi of modesty are supposed to justify his deviation from the rules and conventions of classical poetics. Thus the reception of the poem is primarily determined by its intent which is dominantly entertaining and its raison d’être which is mostly oriented towards real life rather than literature. The analysis reveals the importance and potential of humor in Ciraki’s poem which, among other thing, makes this text worthy of historiographical interest, namely reevaluating its position in literary diachrony and synchrony.

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