Putovi pored znakova

The Imperial Diploma of 20 October 1860 marked the end of Bach's absolutism, one of the darkest periods in recent Croatian history, a period marked in literature by the suppression of Renaissance enthusiasm, cultural depression, Germanization and regression. In the 1860s, cultural life began to develop more freely again, and a new impetus was observed in all areas. A breath of freedom, after decades of discipline, was also felt in literature. A new generation of writers entered the literary scene, who would set the basic tone for Croatian literature in the next two decades. The new generation gathered mainly around the magazines "Naše gore list" (founded in 1861 by the Zagreb merchant Mijo Krešić) and "Glasonoša" (founded in Karlovac by the printer Abel Lukšić, also in 1861). If we also mention the fact that in 1863 Ljudevit Gaj renewed "Danica" (which was published until the end of 1867), then the publication of the newspapers "Književnik", "Slavonac", "Dragoljub", and from 1869 also "Vienca", it is obvious that the conditions were gradually being created for a more developed and differentiated literary life....