Joža Horvat
| Joža Horvat | |
|---|---|
|
Horvat's portrait on the cover of Svjedok prolaznosti | |
| Born |
Josip Horvat 10 March 1915 Kotoriba, Austria-Hungary |
| Died |
26 October 2012 (aged 97) Zagreb, Croatia |
| Pen name | Joža |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Period | 1935 |
| Genre | novele |
| Notable works |
Ciguli Miguli (1952) Mačak pod šljemom (1962) Besa–brodski dnevnik (1973) Operacija "Stonoga" (1982) Waitapu (1984) Svjedok prolaznosti (2005) |
| Notable awards | Vladimir Nazor Award for lifetime achievement in literature |
| Spouse | Renata Horvat (neé Jesensky)[1] |
| Children |
Radovan–Mićo (d. 1973) Marko (d. 1975)[2] |
Josip "Joža" Horvat (10 March 1915 – 26 October 2012) was a Croatian writer. He was the author of many novels, short stories, dramas, screenplays, essays and radio dramas, translated into at least nine languages, including Russian, Chinese and Esperanto.[3]
Life and career
Horvat was born in Kotoriba, Međimurje County, at the time in Austria-Hungary. During World War II he fought in Yugoslav Partisans, which later inspired the novel Mačak pod šljemom (Tomcat under a Helmet, 1962) which had a somewhat ironical view of the partisan movement, adapted both into a feature film and a miniseries. The screenplay Ciguli Miguli (1952), critical of bureaucracy, briefly brought him into disfavour with the Communist party authorities, on which occasion he turned to sailing.
In mid-1960s Horvat and his family sailed the world in the sailing yacht Besa, and his travel journal Besa–brodski dnevnik (Besa–Ship's Log, 1973) became a best-seller. The second trip around the world was marked by tragedy: Horvat’s older son, who stayed back, died in a traffic accident in 1973, and his younger son drowned in Venezuela in 1975.
After a period of deep crisis Horvat published two acclaimed novels inspired by these events, Operacija "Stonoga" (Operation "Centipede", 1982), about a search for a lost island in the Atlantic, and Waitapu (1984), about a Pacific Islander boy who decides to sail across a taboo line. His last work is a memoir titled Svjedok prolaznosti (A Witness to Impermanence, 2005).[3][4][5][6]
Horvat attended the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb and served as a secretary of Matica hrvatska.[3]
References
- ↑ "Mačak iz autobiografije" [Tomcat of Autobiography] (in Croatian). Matica hrvatska. 2005. Retrieved 26 October 2012.
- ↑ "Bolne uspomene našeg Vasca da Game" [Painful Memories of Our Vasco da Gama] (in Croatian). Jutarnji.hr. 2005. Retrieved 26 October 2012.
- 1 2 3 "Horvat Joža" (in Croatian). Croatian Writers Society. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
- ↑ "Promoviran roman "Svjetionik" autora Jože Horvata" [Presentation of the Novel "Svjetionik" by Joža Horvat] (in Croatian). 2000. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
- ↑ "Joža Horvat u Kotoribi" [Joža Horvat in Kotoriba] (in Croatian). 2004. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
- ↑ "Navtični Portret: Doživeti Barbo Jožo Horvata" [Nautical Portrait: To Experience Old Man Joža Horvat] (in Slovenian). Revija Kapital. Retrieved 7 December 2011.