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Besa

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Hardcover

First published January 1, 1973

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133 people want to read

About the author

Joža Horvat

22 books4 followers
Joža Horvat was born in Kotoriba, Međimurje, at the time in Austria-Hungary. During World War II he fought in Yugoslav Partisans, which later inspired the anti-war novel 'Mačak pod šljemom' (Tomcat under a Helmet, 1962), adapted both into a feature film and a miniseries. The screenplay 'Ciguli Miguli' (1952), critical of dogmatism and bureaucracy, briefly brought him into disfavor 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 diary 'Besa – brodski dnevnik' (Besa–Ship's Log, 1973) became a bestseller. 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. Horvat's last work is a memoir titled 'Svjedok prolaznosti' (A Witness to Impermanence, 2005).

He attended the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb and served as a secretary of Matrix Croatica.

Many of novels, short stories, dramas, screenplays, essays and radio dramas and have been translated into at least nine languages, including Russian, Chinese and Esperanto.

He died at the age of 97 in Zagreb, Croatia.

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5 stars
121 (72%)
4 stars
29 (17%)
3 stars
16 (9%)
2 stars
1 (<1%)
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
47 reviews16 followers
November 6, 2017
da mogu dala bih 10 zvjedica... dala bih sve zvijezdice koje je Joža Horvat toliko volio
Profile Image for Maria.
1 review
January 16, 2022
Lako čitljivo, konstantno zanimljivo, fino protkana doza humora i ironije, a barbi Joži, prije svega, skidam kapu za snagu, entuzijazam i upornost kako kod plovidbe, tako i kod pisanja ove predivne pustolovine. ⚓🌟
2 reviews15 followers
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March 22, 2025
Barba Joža je negdje u sred Pacifika zapisao - kad nema rakije, posluži i viski.
1 review
March 30, 2014
Za onog tko voli putovati po svijetu ovo će biti jako zanimljivo.
Profile Image for Marina Barun.
13 reviews21 followers
February 5, 2016
Besa je predivno putovanje oko svijeta na jednom planu, a na drugom dirljiv ponor u svijest čovjeka koji ustinu beskompromisno živi svoj san.
Profile Image for Aster.
3 reviews
August 22, 2019
Petica, za skromnost i želju za avanturom. Posado Bese, bilo je divno ponovo zaploviti s vama svjetskim morima!
Profile Image for Mladen Krečak.
281 reviews2 followers
March 26, 2022
Zahvaljujući barba Joži i ja preplovih tri oceana, i bijah u krajevima u kojima nikada bizi neću! Partizan i svjetski moreplovac, koliko avantura za jedan život, skidam kapu barba....
Profile Image for Урош.
28 reviews
September 23, 2024
Једна од најбољих књига које сам прочитао.
Profile Image for Goran.
14 reviews
May 5, 2013
Not bad, a good itinerary though it can be somewhat lacking in descriptions... But as the author himself stated, when you're trying not to drown or die from thirst, you don't really think about the scenery.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews

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