Pop travel books in Croatia during the 1980s: who's there traveling and writing?

Lončar, Jovica. (2016). Pop travel books in Croatia during the 1980s: who's there traveling and writing?. Diploma Thesis. Filozofski fakultet u Zagrebu, Department of Comparative Literature. [mentor Duda, Dean].

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Abstract

The penultimate decade of the 20th century in Croatia is extremely rich in travel writing which is in this period extremely popular. Therefore, we decided to explore whether the popular travel books of this period have some common characteristics based on which we could explain a wide readership. In the three analyzed travel books that by publication date rounded the period of the 1980s, we found some common characteristics, but also the differences that make them more or less qualify under the notion of pop travel book. Santhana and U potrazi za Staklenim gradom as opposed to the Beskrajem svijeta expressed a clear literary ambition, which is reflected in the use of fictional narrative techniques – the use of dialogisation, introspection, the stage-building tension, and fictional models of character building - but also in the mode of relationship with domestic readership which is reflected in a pronounced emphasis on the Yugoslav identity. First two travel books as opposed to Beskrajem svijeta insist on importance of self-perception and not only of the adventure and pleasure, as a motivation to travel. These are travel writers who are at the crossroads of modern and postmodern where Saletto is more a reporter than a travel writer, Bebek is the best narrator, Malnar is most willing to experiment in terms of form and content. The common to all three travel books is the general cultural value to the local culture which is acquainted with the unknown or insufficiently known regions and cultures, as well as itineraries and possible modes of travel. Yugoslavs of the 1980s traveled primarily because of work, i.e., work is what legitimizes undertaking a journey.

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