New Issue of the Journal of Croatian Studies
The Croatian Academy of America published volume 43 of the Journal of Croatian Studies, an annual interdisciplinary periodical dedicated to Croatian studies.
This exceptional volume includes contributions on recent Bosnian history; towering cultural figures such as Ivo Andrić, Tin Ujević, Ruđer Bošković, and Josip Juraj Strossmayer; the Croatian Renaissance; and Istrian history at the close of World War II when the Allies established a military government in Pula.
Former Bosnian Ambassador to the EU and NATO, Miles Vitomir RaguĹľ, opens the volume with an examination of Croatia’s decisive role in saving Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1995 through Operation Storm. Coming less than a month after the Srebrenica massacre and an imminent attack on the UN safe haven of Bihać, it completely altered the balance of power in the region and brought about the conditions for peace. Details the diplomatic meetings between Croatia and the United States, as far back as 1993, which led to the strategy of using Croatian forces as a substitute for military power that no Western country was willing to apply on the ground. While RaguĹľ shows how peace came about in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Marko Babić, an associate of the Miroslav KrleĹľa Lexicographical Institute, details the catastrophic results of the Dayton Peace Accords for the Croatian population of the Bosnian Posavina region. Compares the ethnic structure of pre- and post-Dayton Bosnian Posavina revealing that before Serb forces launched their assault, Croats constituted the largest ethnic group in the region with a population of 136,266. Five years after the Dayton Peace Accords had given the Posavina to the Serb entity ('Bosanska Srpska'), only 10,881 Croats remained. Reveals that out of a pre-war Croatian population of 760,852, almost fifty percent have been ethnically cleansed from Bosnia-Herzegovina, while only 1,090 have been allowed to return to their homes in 'Bosanska Srpska' as of June 2000.
University of Toronto Professor Ralph Bogert reveals the changes in reception of the writer Ivo Andrić (1892-1975), the only South Slavic recipient of the Nobel Prize for literature. Discusses efforts to claim, disclaim, and reclaim Andrić for Croatian culture and literature, and concludes that Andrić will eventually be treated like other writers whose works have crossed national boundaries. Harvard University’s Ellen Elias-Bursać explores Tin Ujević’s (1891-1955) trajectory from student of philosophy and literature, through disaster of neglect, to poetry, focusing on his 1926 collection of poems entitled Kolajna. Shows the significance of the collection for an understanding of the Ujević’s development. The third contribution dealing with literature is University of Waterloo Professor Vinko Grubišić’s regional survey of the Latin and Italian influences on Croatian Renaissance writers who belonged to the intellectual universality of humanist Europe. Grubišić also reviews the book Marko Marulić Marul (Zagreb, 1999), an up-to-date account of the life and works of the Croatian Renaissance writer and 'father of Croatian literature,' Marko Marulić (1450-1524) by Mirko Tomasović, a leading Marulićian scholar and editor of Colloquia Maruliana.
Two giant figures in Croatian history, scientist Ruđer Bošković (1711-1787) and Bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer (1815-1905) are also featured in the volume. Well-known Croatian linguist from Britain, Branko Franolić, explores the motives for Bošković’s traveling to Isaac Newton’s native land. Regarded as the first to have a scientific vision of the Unified Field Theory ('Theory of Everything'), Bošković’s theory of natural philosophy had a deep impact on leading British scientists and philosophers. Ljerka Dulibić of Zagreb explores Strossmayer’s role in politics, religion and culture in Croatia during the latter half of the 19th century. Focuses on his involvement with the establishment of the University of Zagreb and the Academy of Sciences and Arts, the construction of the cathedral in Đakovo and the Academy Palace, the collecting of art work, the founding of art history studies, and his donation to, and assistance in, establishing what became known as the Strossmayer Gallery of Old Masters.
In the final contribution, John Peter Kraljic examines the power struggle over Istria between the Allies, who established an Allied Military Government (AMG) in Pula in order to secure its lines of communication to Trieste, and Tito’s Yugoslavia at the close of World War II and during the emerging Cold War. Discusses the roles played by the Italian, Croat and Slovene populations in Istria during this period, and the eventual inclusion of AMG-controlled territories in Yugoslavia.
A review of French intellectual Alain Finkielkraut’s collection of interviews, commentaries and essays critiquing Western policy toward Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina from 1991-1996, and of a catalogue showcasing Croatian books published in emigration from 1900-2000 complete the book review section of this 202-page issue of the Journal of Croatian Studies.
The Croatian Academy of America was established in 1953 and has published the Journal of Croatian Studies since 1960. Managing editors of the Journal are Karlo Mirth and Jerome Jareb.
Single issues of the Journal may be ordered at a price of US $25 for individuals and US $40 for institutions. Due to delays, volume 43 (2002) was published in 2005.
To order a copy of the Journal contact:
The Croatian Academy of America, Inc.
P.O. Box 1767, Grand Central Station
New York, NY 10163-1767 U.S.A.
Fax (516) 935-0019; e-mail croatacad@aol.com
Web site: www.croatianacademy.org
Articles appearing in the Journal are indexed by ABC-CLIO Historical Abstracts, MLA International Bibliography of the Modern Languages Association and Public Affairs Information Service.