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Margita ali Potovanje v preteklost

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Serbo-Croation

157 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

2 people are currently reading
22 people want to read

About the author

Miro Gavran

79 books103 followers
Miro Gavran is a contemporary Croatian author, born in 1961. His works have been translated into 35 languages, and his books have come out in 150 different editions at home and abroad. His dramas and comedies have had more than 200 theatre first nights around the world and have been seen by more than two million theatre-goers.

He is the only living dramatist in Europe to have a theatre festival devoted solely to his plays outside his/her homeland; the Gavranfest has been held in Slovakia since 2003.

He debuted in 1983 with the drama Creon's Antigone, speaking out forcefully about political manipulation. This was followed three years later by the drama Night of the Gods, the theme being the relationship between the artist and the powers-that-be under a totalitarian system. He then wrote a cycle of plays concentrating on male-female relations, in which his heroes were often great historical persons. He has created a series of complex female characters. His heroines are both strong and emotional. He has written some forty plays to date, including Death of an Actor, All About Women, All About Men, George Washington's Loves, Chekhov Says Good-Bye to Tolstoy, How To Kill The President, Greta Garbo's Secret, Parallel Worlds, Nora in Our Time, My Wife's Husband, Dr Freud's Patient...

There have been first nights of his plays throughout the world, in: Rotterdam, Washington, Moscow, Rio de Janeiro, Paris, Buenos Aires, Waterford, Mumbai, Bratislava, Prague, Ljubljana, Sarajevo, Krakow, Belgrade, Budapest, Athens, Augsburg, Vienna, Sofia.

He has had nine novels published: Forgotten Son, How We Broke Our Legs, Klara, Margita or A Journey into a Former Life, Judith, John the Baptist, Pontius Pilate and The Only Witness to Beauty, Kafka's friend, along with a collection of short stories entitled Small Unusual People.

In his early novels, he describes life in the Croatian provinces, featuring everyday folk, anti-heroes of sorts, who retain a positive stance towards life even when they are confronted with injustice and major difficulties. This is perhaps best seen in his novel, Forgotten Son (1989), in which the central personage is a slightly mentally challenged young man of twenty.

As a forty-year-old, Gavran started to write psychological-existential novels inspired by biblical characters, bringing them nearer to the sensibilities of contemporary readers. These books have been popular with both believers and non-believers, since their messages are universal.

His books have been published in all corners of the globe: in Beijing, Vienna, St Petersburg, Oslo, Istanbul, Paris, Prague, Bratislava, Sofia, Ljubljana...

Gavran has received more than twenty literary awards in Croatia and abroad, including the Central European Time Award, given annually in Budapest to the best Central European author for overall opus, as well as the European Circle Award given to writers for the confirmation of European values in their texts.

With insight and humour, Miro Gavran has written eight books for children and young people: All Sorts of Things in My Head, How Dad Won Mum, Head Over Heels in Love, Happy Days, Farewell Letter, Plays with a Head and a Tail, Try to Forget and The Teacher of My Dreams. These books have also found their way to adult readers.

Gavran earned his degree in Dramaturgy at the Academy of Theatre, Film and Television in Zagreb.

He first worked as a dramaturge and theatre director at the famous ITD Theatre in Zagreb. Since 1993, he has been living and working as a free-lance, professional writer. His theatre and prose texts have been included in numerous anthologies in Croatia and in countries outside its borders, and his work is studied at universities throughout the world.

He has been living in Zagreb, Croatia since he was twenty. He is married to the actress Mladena Gavran, and founded the Gavran Theatre with her in 2002. Their son Jakov is a student of acting.

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5 stars
30 (28%)
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37 (35%)
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29 (27%)
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
Profile Image for Tonkica.
750 reviews148 followers
July 21, 2016
Zao mi je sto za drugu okosnicu price nismo dobili zavrsetak. Inace, knjiga procitana u jednom dahu gdje se moze osjetiti bezvremenska povezanost dvaju likova.
Profile Image for Biljana.
263 reviews19 followers
June 1, 2021
Jedna nesretna ljubav, ali kad ju opiše Miro Gavran, to nikako nije samo još jedna nesretna ljubav. To je puno, puno više.
Profile Image for Margarita Bulgakova.
127 reviews11 followers
December 22, 2021
Dugo sam Gavrana navodila kao jednog od najdražih domaćih autora, no mislim da mi je s vremenom pomalo dosadio. "Margita" se ne razlikuje previše od ostalih njegovih romana - radnja je dovoljno zanimljiva da nas vuče da čitamo dalje, roman nije zahtjevan, lako se i brzo prolazi kroz pripovijedanje i dijaloge, nedostaju mi "jači" likovi. Sve što se govorilo o starčevačkoj kulturi (što mi je bilo i najzanimljivije), ostalo je samo visjeti u zraku pa sam se na kraju i malo naživcirala. U redu mi je da je kraj otvoren, ali u tom mi je dijelu nešto nedostajalo - ne nužno da se zaokruži, nego da dobijemo još materijala, kad se već dovoljno duboko zašlo u sve to.
Profile Image for Nina.
110 reviews3 followers
June 16, 2020
Bilo bi 5 da prica nije tako naprasno prekinuta. Rado bi ju jos dugo čitala
Profile Image for Lidija.
61 reviews
October 6, 2025
Miro Gavran! Ništa nije onako kako izgleda na prvi pogled.... ;)
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews

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