Obliti privatorum... Nacrt za jednu poetiku političke prakse

• Main Author: Antun Pavešković
• Format: Article
• Language: Croatian
• Published: Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts 2017-05-01
• Series: Anali Zavoda za Povijesne Znanosti Hrvatske Akademije Znanosti i Umjetnosti u Dubrovniku
• Subjects: Political strategy; poetic topos; mannerism; political authority; nobility; collective sensibility; individualism; institutions; community; individual
• Online Access: http://hrcak.srce.hr/181195?lang=en

The aim of this article is to highlight Ragusan political strategies mirrored in the literary works of Mavro Vetranović (1482-1576) and Marin Držić (1508-1567). The similarities and differences between these two authors are determined on the basis of their use of the same poetic topoi, notably that of the right path. Vetranović’s political optimism in the analysis of Pjesanca spurjanom (Poem to a Bastard) proves a strategy by which the poet secures his right to public speech in a society highly restrictive towards individual public discourse. By publicly addressing a social problem without pointing his finger at the culprit, he emphasised a topic which otherwise could not have been spoken about. With regard to the political authority, Vetranović designated the nobility as a non-differentiated collective entity offering him protection, whilst Držić, in the case of a polemic surrounding the alleged plagiarism, addressed an individual―a specific nobleman. Merely on this example the difference between the two writers is clearly discernible. Vetranović proves himself as a writer of collective sensibility, whereas Držić is a typical Renaissance individualist. Given that Ragusan political experience is founded on collective authority, Vetranović is a poetic embodiment of that very experience. Contrary to that of Dubrovnik, Croatian political experience, due to the absence of authentic national institutions, built its own model based on an image of a strong individual, who, in the name of his community, makes his statement in a heroic and in principle tragic gesture. This model has survived to this day and is still prevalent in the current political practice of Croatia. Although alien to the Ragusan understanding of politics and society, this model clearly echoes in the individualism of Marin Držić.