Mate Balota

Mate Balota literary pseudonym Mije Mirkovića (Rakalj, 28 June 1898 – Zagreb, 17 February 1963), Croatian poet, prose writer, economist and cultural historian. I grew up in the Istarskoj rural environment, whose language, customs and social relations have long been marked by his creation. He was educated in Pazin, and studied in Zagreb, Belgrade, Berlin and Frankfurt am Main, where he received his doctorate in 1923. He taught at Subotici in Belgrade, and after the Second World War he became a professor at the Faculty of Economics in Zagreb. From 1947. bio je nadrevi član JAZU. He participated in the Paris Peace Conference in 1946.

The central place in his literary opus is occupied by the Čakavska pjesnička zbirka Dragi kamen (1938), one of the most important works of Croatian dialectal literature. U nojje je prikajao svijet istarskih tehka, ribara i pomoraca, connecting customary affiliation, social sensitivity and nostalgia. Njegowa je poezija neposredna, razvojna i pripovjedna, ukorijenjena u artustvu poverty, rada, iseljavanja i separatosti od noga kraj.

The novel Tijesna zemlja (1946.) gives a broad picture of Istarskoga rural life in the second half of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. Obiteljske sudbine i borba za opstanak connected with economic changes, obskudicom zemlje i social raslojavanem. The books Puna je Pula (1954.) and Stara pazinska gimnazija (1959.) combine autobiographical memories with cultural and social history of Istre.

Važan dio njegova rada čine istraživaje Matije Vlačića Ilirika, especially books Flacius (1938.) and Matija Vlačić Ilirik (1960.). Among the economic ones, they highlight Industrijska politika (1936.), Agrarna politika (1940.) and Seljaci u kapitalistu (1952.). Putopisni zapisi sabrani su posmrtno u nigije Na crvenoj istarskoj zemlji (1979.). Balotino's work connects literature and science, čuvajući language, memory and cultural identity of Istra.