Pripovijetke
This edition brings four key stories by Vjenceslav Novak (1859–1905), one of the most important Croatian realists, known for his social sensitivity and depictions of urban poverty at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Novak writes soberly, documentary-style, with deep compassion for the marginalized – workers, the poor, fallen idealists – criticizing the city's callousness, class differences and moral decline. This edition serves as a reading (7th grade or high school), with a preface, a note about the author and black and white illustrations. It presents Novak as a "Croatian Balzac" – with a wide range of social types, from villages to big cities, with an emphasis on social injustice and human suffering.
Contents:
- Into the Muck – a story about a young student Artur Kranjčić who comes to Zagreb full of idealism and freshness, but sinks into the moral and existential muck of the city, alcohol and disappointment – Novak's typical motif of the decline of a noble soul in a corrupt environment.
- Insatiability and Misery – a social drama about greed, poverty and destructive insatiability that destroys families and individuals.
- From the Metropolitan Underground (1905) – the most famous, a realistic depiction of working-class life in Zagreb: poverty, drunkenness, the prejudice of the rich against the poor, the character of Mikina who suffers from social injustice and loss of dignity.
- The Story of Marcel Remenić – a story about individual destiny, probably with motifs of artistic or intellectual decline.
Two copies are available
Copy number 2
- Slight damage to the cover
