PSHK #101: Antun Barac: Članci i eseji

The book Antun Barac: Articles and Essays—published as the 101st volume in the series Five Centuries of Croatian Literature—presents a selection of Barac’s most significant texts covering literary history, literary criticism, philology, and aesthetics. His work focuses on Croatian literature across various periods—examining its writers, works, language, and evolution—while also addressing broader questions regarding the nature of literature and art. Barac does not view literature in isolation from life; instead, he connects it to historical circumstances, society, culture, and the human experience.

The volume includes texts on major Croatian writers and literary phenomena, featuring figures such as Ivan Gundulić, Ivan Mažuranić, August Šenoa, Ksaver Šandor Đalski, Vladimir Vidrić, Antun Gustav Matoš, and Ivan Goran Kovačić. Alongside these individual writers, Barac examines the development of Croatian literature within a European context, the issue of literary language, the relationship between philology and aesthetics, and the proper methods for studying and evaluating literary works. He is particularly interested in the interplay between a work's artistic value and its significance within literary history.

The concluding texts shift the focus to the connection between literature and human suffering, historical tragedies, and the experience of life in a concentration camp. This reinforces Barac’s conception of literature not merely as an aesthetic phenomenon, but as one possessing broader human, cultural, and social significance. The work as a whole presents a valuable overview of Barac’s literary-critical thought and his views on the Croatian literary tradition, its development, and its place in European culture.