Vladimir Nazor

Born May 30, 1876, on the island of Brae; died June 19, 1949, in Zagreb. Croatian writer and statesman.

The son of a government official, Nazor studied natural sciences in Graz (Austria) and Zagreb and became a teacher. In 1942 he fought in the National-Liberation War of the Peoples of Yugoslavia (1941–45). In 1943 he was elected first chairman of the Regional Antifascist National-Liberation Council of Croatia and in 1945, chairman of the Presidium of the National Assembly of Croatia.

Nazor began his literary career in 1893. He wrote in various literary genres, achieving wide renown as a poet. Nazor’s poetry of the first decade of the 20th century tends toward romantic symbolism and impressionism, adherence to strict poetic form, and interest in landscape poetry, revealing an affinity between his poetic works and those of the Croatian “modernists.” His poetry is imbued with a civic spirit, national patriotic aspirations, and life-affirming enthusiasm, for example, his collections Slavic Legends (1900) and Lyrics (1910) and his narrative poem Brundo the Bear (1915).

During the 1920’s and 1930’s, Nazor’s prose became more important than his poetry: it combined fantasy and symbolism with realistic simplicity and psychological insight. His prose works include Stories of Childhood (1924), Sarko (1930), and Zagreb Novellas (1942)., Nazor’s Songs of a Partisan Woman (1944) and With the Partisans (1945) are outstanding achievements in Croatian poetry.