Novel
Zlatarovo zlato
Not translated into English
August Šenoa · 1871
Opening lines
Na domaku šestnaestoga vieka za kraljevanja Makse drugoga, a banovanja biskupa Gjure Draškovića, nizahu se oko župne crkve sv. Marka onizke daščare, gdje su kramari i piljarice obzirnim gradjanom plemenitoga varoša na „grčkih goricah“ tržile lojanica, ulja, pogača i druge sitne robe za sitnu porabu i uz malen novac.
Towards the close of the sixteenth century, in the reign of Maximilian II and the banship of Bishop Juraj Drašković, low wooden stalls stood in a row around the parish church of St Mark, where hucksters and market women sold to the careful burghers of the noble town, on the “Greek hills”, tallow candles, oil, flat cakes and other small wares for small needs and for little money.
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from archive.org
Synopsis
Zagreb, in the 1570s. Dora, daughter of the goldsmith Petar Krupić, and Pavao, son of the lord of Medvedgrad, love each other although nothing in the town allows it: the boy's father rules the countryside and despises the burghers, and they defend the liberties of their city against him step by step. The author warns at the beginning of the book that he invented almost nothing of these characters or their deeds.
Context
The tale appeared as a serial in Vienac from 5 August to 30 December 1871, in twenty-six chapters, before being reissued in volume form at the request of readers; the preface is dated at the end of that same year and warns: almost all these people lived, and acted as they are shown. The action takes place between 1574 and 1579, with flashbacks reaching back to the thirteenth century and an epilogue running to 1610, between the town, Medvedgrad, Samobor and the military frontier. Five years later, the author announced that the book had been translated into German, Czech, Polish and Hungarian; the Czech version, by Marija Fabković, appeared in Prague in 1879, and the German under the title Das Goldkind.
Who it is for
Twenty-six chapters of historical adventure, with no difficulty in reading. No French translation.
Prizes and reception
The first Croatian historical novel, and the most widely read Croatian novel of the last hundred and twenty-five years according to a reception survey carried out in 1980.