|Born||August Ivan Nepomuk Eduard Schönoa
14 November 1838
Zagreb, Kingdom of Croatia,
|Died||13 December 1881
Zagreb, Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia,
He was a transitional figure, who helped bring Croatian literature from Romanticism to Realism and introduced the historical novel to Croatia. He wrote more than ten novels, among which the most notable are:
- Zlatarovo zlato (Goldsmith's gold; 1871)
- Čuvaj se senjske ruke (Pirates of Senj; 1876)
- Seljačka buna (Peasants' revolt; 1877)
- Diogenes (1878)
Šenoa was one of the most popular Croatian novelists and the author of the popular patriotic song "Živila Hrvatska".
He was born in Zagreb, then part of the Habsburg Empire, into a family of Slovak-German origin. His surname was originally spelled Schönoa. His father was Alois Schönoa, and mother was Terezija Rabacs, a Slovak woman from Budapest. He studied law in Prague. He also lived in Vienna for a while, but returned to Zagreb in 1866. He died in Zagreb at the age of 43.
From 1874 to 1881, he edited the literary journal Vijenac ("Wreath").
He died from disease picked up after the 1880 Zagreb earthquake.
This "father of the Croatian novel" (and modern national literature) is at his best in his mass Cecildemillean scenes and poetic description of oppressed Croatian peasantry, nobility struggling against foreign rule (Venetians, Austrians/Germans and Hungarians) and romanticised period from the 15th to the 18th century. It has become a commonplace phrase that "Šenoa created the Croatian reading public", especially by writing in a popular style.
In 2008, a total of 182 streets in Croatia were named after August Šenoa, making him the seventh most common person eponym of streets in the country.
||This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. (January 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)|
- Letica, Slaven (29 November 2008). Bach, Nenad, ed. "If Streets Could Talk. Kad bi ulice imale dar govora.". Croatian World Network. ISSN 1847-3911. Retrieved 2014-12-31.
- "Šenoa, August". Croatian Biographical Lexicon (in Croatian). Miroslav Krleža Institute of Lexicography. 2015. Retrieved 4 May 2017.