The question of the periodization of old Croatian literature (Croatian literature of the Romanic period)

Abstract

Periodization is an indispensable element in all surveys of the historical developments within individual national literatures. However, when literary theory undertakes this task it is apt to employ various criteria. It is only of recent date that Croatian Medieval literature, spanning a number of centuries, has been recognized as a specific stylistic formation, subsumed under the label Medieval as distinct from the terms used earlier - Glagolitic, Church, etc... However, the breakup of this great epoch into periods is still based more on philological and cultural-historical aspects than on literary-aesthetical parameters. In this respect, the author undertakes to examine those stylistic elements and thought contents of Old Croatian poetic texts wherein is found the spirit of, first of all, the Romanic (up to the middle of the 13th century) and then the Gothic period (till the end of the 15th century), so as to introduce into Croatian literary-historical periodization a more consistent artistic-aesthetic criterion.