Web record 2014–2017
This website brings together Jasna Horvat's content from 2014–2017. Books, biography, Glagolitic materials, galleries and period news remain available in their original content framework, presented through a contemporary visual layer.
Download promo posters used in China fair here, or download a catalogue here.
Lecture "Literature supported by QR codes" article in Croatian
Interliber Book Fair 2016 closing remarks
Article in a Chinese newspaper about Jasna Horvat and Xu Zeng
Interliber 2016 programme with Xu Zechen and Jasna Horvat View the photographs
Article about Jasna Horvat on Interliber 2016! In .jpg version or .pdf version.
Check out Vilijun's introductory video clip!
Archival authorial text. The names and numerical values of the first nine Glagolitic letters have been checked against the Old Church Slavonic Institute and the Croatian Encyclopaedia; the symbolic readings of the rosette and numbers are retained as the authorial interpretative layer.
A is the first letter of the Latin alphabet. Its development is associated with the Egyptian hieroglyphic tradition and with a related pictogram in Northwest Semitic writing. In those traditions, the ancestor of A is associated with a stylised head of cattle, or an ox. Aleph is the first letter of the Phoenician and Hebrew alphabets, and Arabic alif is related to it.
The Greeks adopted the Semitic sign aleph at an early stage in the development of their alphabet and gave it the sound value of the vowel A. They called it alpha and placed it first in the alphabet. The letter A then entered the Latin script through the Greek and Etruscan traditions. In Christian symbolism, the idea of beginning and completion is condensed in the biblical image of the Alpha and the Omega (Rev. 1:8).
According to Frane Paro, Constantine-Cyril began the Glagolitic alphabetic sequence with the sign of the cross, the central symbol of Christianity. The writing system is interpreted as a whole extending from A to O, between the cross ╬, the sign of Christ, and the circle ○, a sign of completeness and perfection.
In Glagolitic, A – AZ represents the cross and, more broadly, points to the first-person singular, I. The numerical value of AZ is one, while its sound value is the vowel A.
In symbolic interpretations, the number one signifies beginning, unity and the source of plurality. In geometry it is associated with the circle and sphere, and in sacred architecture with central plans and domes. In Croatian, a is also an adversative conjunction.
The letter B is associated with Semitic bet and Greek beta. The basic meaning of the Hebrew name bet is house. The Greek sign later became the Latin letter B, while the sound value of Greek beta changed over the course of history.
In Glagolitic, B is a sign with the numerical value two and the sound value B. The name BUKY means letters or books, and in symbolic reading it is therefore associated with literacy and the written word.
In Glagolitic primers, letters were learnt by spelling syllables. A teacher might write sequences such as ba, be, bi, bo, bu, which pupils repeated aloud and memorised. This experience of rote learning is linked with the modern Croatian verb bubati, to learn by heart, while the expression očitati bukvicu preserves a trace of bukva/buki in the sense of a letter.
In symbolic interpretations, the number two signifies duality, division and polarity. In Christian symbolism it may point to the two natures of Christ and to love of God and neighbour. B is the second letter of the Croatian alphabet.
The Latin V is historically connected with Phoenician waw through Greek upsilon and the Latin graphic tradition. In medieval and early modern usage, the distinction between the signs U and V gradually became established.
In Glagolitic, V – VÊDÊTI is associated with knowledge. The same Indo-European root can be recognised in words connected with knowing and seeing. In the authorial symbolic interpretation, the form of the letter follows a circle containing alpha and omega, while the lower half of the rosette is associated with the waters separated from the firmament.
When the first three Glagolitic letters, A, B and V, are inscribed into the rosette, the authorial reading assigns to the resulting whole the message: I believe in the eternal God.
The numerical value of the Glagolitic letter V is three. The number three has a rich symbolism of completeness, growth and creation in various traditions, and in Christianity it is particularly associated with the Holy Trinity and Christ’s resurrection on the third day.
Words derived from the ved-/vid- root in Slavic languages connect knowledge and perception. The proverb “one who sees well knows well” points to the same relationship. V is the twenty-eighth letter of the Croatian alphabet.
The Latin G developed from C in the third century BCE by adding a stroke that distinguished the sound /g/ from /k/. The introduction of G is traditionally associated with Spurius Carvilius Ruga, and the new letter took the position previously occupied by Z in the older Latin alphabet.
In the history of Croatian orthography, G also appeared in digraphic solutions. The Glagolitic sign G – GLAGOLJǪ is associated with the verb glagoljati, to speak. Its numerical value is four.
In the authorial symbolic reading, the two enclosed parts of the sign are associated with the earth and with creatures moving close to the ground. Its connection with speaking extends to the word and to literacy as an act of utterance.
In the Croatian custom of blessing a home, the initials G+M+B may appear after the names Gašpar, Melkior and Baltazar. The Latin form is C+M+B and is also interpreted as the abbreviation of Christus mansionem benedicat, “May Christ bless this house”; C at the same time corresponds to the Latin form of the name Caspar.
The number four is symbolically associated with spatial order, solidity and the completeness of the world. G is the eleventh letter of the Croatian alphabet and represents a voiced velar plosive. The verb is central to the predicate in a large number of sentences, although Croatian also has verbless sentences.
The letter D is associated with Semitic dalet, whose basic meaning points to a door, and with Greek delta. In the Greek numeral system delta has the value four, while in Roman numerals D denotes 500.
In Glagolitic, D – DOBRO has the numerical value five. In the authorial symbolic reading, the letter is associated with goodness and the Spirit, while its position in the rosette is linked with the upper part of the world and the image of the Spirit of God over the waters.
In different symbolic systems the number five represents the joining of two and three and is often associated with the human being, the five senses and the fingers of the hand. In a Christian context it also evokes the Pentateuch.
In the Croatian Latin alphabet, D participates in the writing of the letter Đ and the digraph Dž. D is the sixth letter of the Croatian alphabet and represents a voiced alveolar plosive.
The letter E is associated with the Semitic sign he, which the Greeks adopted and adapted for the vowel E. The direction of writing was not completely fixed in early Greek inscriptions; boustrophedon writing is also known, with the direction of each line alternating like the movement of ploughing. Left-to-right writing later became established.
In Glagolitic, E – (J)EST has the numerical value six. In Pythagorean and other symbolic traditions, six is associated with completion, harmony and creation. Six is also a perfect number because 1 + 2 + 3 = 1 × 2 × 3 = 6.
In the biblical account, the creation of the world is completed in six days, with humankind created on the sixth day. In the authorial symbolic interpretation, the Glagolitic E is therefore associated with the sixth day of creation and with the human being.
In the authorial model, the sum of the first six numerical values and the geometrical arrangement of their signs are connected with the complete rosette. The letter E is additionally associated with morning and the emergence of light.
E is the ninth letter of the Croatian alphabet and represents a front mid vowel.
In Glagolitic, the letter Ž – ŽIVÊTI is associated with life, and its numerical value is seven. Seven is strongly marked in the symbolism of many cultures and is linked with completion, the wholeness of time and space, and the order of the heavens.
In Pythagorean and later symbolism, seven connects three and four, heaven and earth. In the Christian rhythm of time, the seventh day completes the week; in the biblical account, God rested on the seventh day after creation.
In Christian symbolism, seven is also associated with the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit. Ž is the thirtieth and final letter of the Croatian alphabet and represents a voiced postalveolar fricative.
Ljudevit Gaj adopted the sign Ž into the Croatian Latin alphabet from the Czech graphic tradition. The letter Ž is also used in other South Slavic Latin alphabets.
The Glagolitic letter Ʒ – ƷÊLO, also rendered as zelo/dzjelo, has the numerical value eight. In the Old Church Slavonic tradition, the name of the letter is associated with the meaning very or exceedingly, while its sound value changed historically and in some contexts approached Z.
In the authorial symbolic reading, the sign is associated with stars fixed to the firmament. The number eight is interpreted as a number of balance, constancy and a new beginning.
After seven, which closes the earthly weekly cycle, eight in Christian symbolism often points to a new beginning, resurrection and eternal life.
The letter Z is associated with Semitic zayin and Greek zeta, from which it entered the Latin alphabet. In Glagolitic, Z – ZEMLA/ZEMLJI has the numerical value nine.
In the authorial symbolic model, the letter Z signifies the earth and occupies half of the rosette. The additional stroke extending beyond the basic circle is interpreted as a sign of the Earth as an astronomical body.
Through its form, the letter participates in the author’s account of the creation of the world and the four elements. In the biblical account, dry land appears on the third day of creation.
The number nine is symbolically associated with spiritual strength, wisdom and maturity. In the First Epistle to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 12:7–11), Christian tradition commonly distinguishes nine gifts of the Spirit. Z is the twenty-ninth letter of the Croatian alphabet and represents a voiced alveolar fricative; in mathematics it is often used for a third unknown alongside x and y.
Glagoljica i glagoljaška tradicija hrvatski su kulturni fenomen, jedinstven po svojim lingvističkim, grafijskim, etnološkim, antropološkim, ali i semiotičkim odlikama. U Republici Hrvatskoj 2014. godine glagoljica je odlukom Ministarstva kulture uvrštena na listu nematerijalnih kulturnih dobara RH.
Oblikovanjem murala glagoljica je približena digitalnom dobu. Autorica idejnog dizajna murala Jasna Horvat uz murale napisala je i roman AZ koji je izravni poticaj za dalje proučavanje kulturne baštine.
Zidovi Fakulteta oslikani glagoljicom postali su platno za ispisivanje poruka na starom hrvatskom pismu glagoljici i uz Zagrebačku katedralu najveći je zatvoreni prostor neke institucije koja sadržava glagoljicu. Pozornost auditorija tako je usmjerena na filozofiju i simboliku hrvatskoga tradicijskog pisma. Primjer je to kako se glagoljicom može komunicirati (u prostoru) te potvrda da se glagoljica uspješno može implementirati i u struke koje nisu jezikoslovne.
Murali Fakulteta primjer su kako zagubljeni dijelovi hrvatskog identiteta izgrađuju nove kulturne i kreativne proizvode.
Archival biography. The information reflects the website as it stood up to 2017; current information is available on the new website.
Life as an uninterrupted game (afterword by Anita Peti-Stantić) Aliquot by Jasna Horvat, writer and scholar, a Renaissance author in constant quest for knowledge, cognition and discovery of the unknown at the intersection of past and present, is in many ways a multi-layered novel whose internal organisation gives rise to numerous, and possibly quite divergent interpretations. An assemblage of characters revolves around those that appear to live in the present, and those that might seem to have lived in the past, but, existing in a cyclical world such as the Aliquot’s, the latter actually still live in their intensively busy present. The representative of the present, and of bridges, is Dane Puljiz, who strives to understand the clash between the Western European and Ottoman culture, and attempts to experience that clash by travelling the world. Very few people show even a glimpse of understanding for his travels, simply because these searches fit neither into the expectations of everyday life nor into issues that seem relevant to the majority. At the other side of his journey are Vasco da Gama and Melek Jaša, both sprouting out of a legend, but the roles have been cast contrary to our expectations. Strength and determination, giving and taking, followed by uncompromising sharing, is on the side of Dubrovnik-born Melek Jaša, who was forcefully taken away, initially submissive, but risen out of his own shadow, rather than on the side of Vasco da Gama, universally acknowledged as one of history’s greats. Anchored in all the available writings, starting from a 1925 study by Vladimir Mažuranić “Melek Jaša Dubrovčanin in India in the years 1480-1528 and his predecessors in Islam ten centuries ago”, to the historical adventure novel “Jaša Dalmatin: Viceroy of Gujarat” by Ivana Brlić Mažuranić published in 1937, but also woven out of imagination and poetic dreaminess, Aliquot is a novel that comes from (and requires) erudition, but allows both reading with a key, and an intuitive adventure of text (re)creation. It is a voyage from Osijek and Slavonia to Dubrovnik, and then, expectedly, over distant seas to parts unknown. The past brought to life in the novel is relevant for the present. It is a past that, summed-up and multiplied, makes a whole with the present, in the same way that an aliquot makes a whole with the number of which it is an aliquot part, inseparable from it in this specific interconnectedness, and yet having its own character, independent in its wholeness and uniqueness. As the past and present interlace, there are numerous other characters that pull the reader into the adventure, whether it be one apparently ordinary Ružica, who is anything but ordinary, or mathematical greats such as Pythagoras, Eratosthenes or Ulam. Whoever it is about, the story is focused on fractals of life of the chosen individuals that have, according to the author, devoted themselves unreservedly to their visions and their times. Because of its complexity and multi-layered structure, Aliquot, the author’s first novel, is very much a reflection of her intuitive and intellectual world, conceived of and realized as a metatext guided by mathematical principles, presented here for deciphering to those who are patient enough.
Nives Tomašević & Jasna Horvat
„Nevidljivost“ nakladništva istaknuta u naslovu ove knjige ključ je za razumijevanje njezine osnovne ideje, ali i cjeline predmeta: skrivene moći nakladništva u proizvodnji i promicanju kulturnoga identiteta. Polazeći od suvremenih i u posljednje vrijeme iznimno atraktivnih pojmova postmaterijalizma, kreativne ekonomije i proizvođenja kulturnog identiteta, autorice pružaju nov pogled na nakladništvo kao dio kulturne i kreativne industrije. Kako je riječ o relativno novome fenomenu, postavke koje autorice donose korektno su potkrijepljene relevantnom literaturom, a prohodnosti teksta pridonosi bogata likovna građa raspoređena po rubnicama. Takav pristup metodički je opravdan ponajprije zbog studenata koji će se priručnikom služiti od prve studijske godine sve do doktorskoga studija. Studenti ovdje mogu dobiti pregled brojnih definicija kulture, kulturne i kreativne ekonomije, industrije dokolice, književnoga nagrađivanja, resursa knjige, dokumentarizma prisutnog u književnoj produkciji i postmaterijalizma. Uz definicije pojmova i fenomena suvremenoga nakladništva priručnik donosi i primjere njihove konkretne primjene, poput Standardnog eurobarometra 69, konstruiranja i provođenja istraživanja o nagradama, povezivanja nakladništva i turizma i komentiranja rezultata istraživanja o turizmu u Republici Hrvatskoj. Autorice pokazuju na vlastitim primjerima nakladničke proizvodnje mogućnosti spajanja književnosti i turizma, nakladništva i drugih segmenata industrije dokolice. Posebno zanimljivo poglavlje Glagoljički kulturni kontekst upućuje na komercijalne mogućnosti glagoljice kao baštinskoga pisma. Dionice o semiotičkim sposobnostima glagoljičkoga pisma otvaraju cijeli niz novih znanstvenih hipoteza podignutih na temeljima više različitih znanosti. Svojim novim ideja o kreativnoj ekonomiji, industriji dokolice i nakladništvu kao mediju proizvodnje kulturnoga identiteta, ali i sretnom kombinacijom dviju profesija, Nives Tomašević kao urednice/znanstvenice i Jasne Horvat kao profesorice ekonomije/književnice, ova će knjiga zasigurno postati tražen i omiljen priručnik za studente nakladništva i komunikologije, ali i privlačno štivo za sve koji žele da im se nakladništvo i njegova kulturotvorna uloga osvijetle i tako učine „vidljivima“.
Folktales about fairies, old mythological women from Croatia in a completely new light in the novel Vilikon. Through discussion of Marco Polo and Kublai Khan, which is written by author herself, from the novel, can be learned all about fairies in Croatia. Vilikon is a special contribution to the heritage and culture of the Croatian history, which in the novel through the character of Marco Polo ties with the Mongols and the Mongol Empire. The novel is structured as a play field magic square of the number 12, in which the chapters are listed.
“Parallel interpretations of postmodernist novels, Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino and Vilikon by Jasna Horvat confirm several postmodernist determinants within Brian McHale’s theoretical framework. Next to the ontological structure of both novels, the author seeks to show the narrative, formative and combinatorial structures. Literary procedures that contribute to their construction are: intertextuality, auto-reference, topoi, networks, and lemmatization. The backbone of both novels is a mutual intertext that implies mutual characters, but with a different theme and motif. Auto-reference in Invisible Cities is evident in the atlas metaphor, chess and reflection, whereas in Vilikon the auto-referential framework is based on the manuscript of the novel and the network metaphor. Postmodern topoi like mirrors, labyrinths, maps, travels, lexicons, and networks are also analyzed. Although most literary procedures coincide in both novels, the key for interpreting in Vilikon is a novelty compared to Invisible Cities.“
(Buljubašić, Varga-Oswald: Parallel interpretations of Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino and Vilikon by Jasna Horvat)
Udžbenik Osnove statistike sadrži iscrpna pojmovna pojašnjenja iz područja statistike s posebnim naglaskom na analizama zanimljivim za ekonomiste i privrednike. Ujedno udovoljava znanstvenim i nastavnim kriterijima, ponajprije izraženim u načinu na koji prezentira temeljna znanja iz statističke teorije i prakse. Izložena građa razdijeljena je u dvanaest poglavlja prikazanih na 680 stranica s 310 tablica, 23 shematskih prikaza, 200 primjera, 196 slika te 91 grafikon. Na kraju svakog poglavlja ponavljaju se prethodni sadržaji kako u pitanjima za provjeru teorijskog znanja tako i u praktičnim primjerima za vježbu zadataka. Snalaženju u pregledu trenutačnih spoznaja doprinosi i pregled literature te preporuke za uporabu statističkih programa za računala. Rubnice udžbenika donose zanimljivosti iz znanstvenog i popularnog okruženja te na taj način potiču na proširivanje i produbljivanje stečenih znanja. Premda je udžbenik Osnove statistike ponajprije namijenjen studentima preddiplomskih, diplomskih i poslijediplomskih studija i istraživačima društvenih znanosti, zbog svoje višenamjenske uloge može biti zanimljiv nestatističarima, računovođama, revizorima, rukovoditeljima, privrednicima i srednjoškolcima. Udžbenik Osnove statistike sadrži dvanaest poglavlja: - Temeljni pojmovi - Numerički niz i grafičko prikazivanje podataka - Deskriptivna statistika - Osnove vjerojatnosti - Slučajna varijabla - Sampling distribucija i procjena parametara populacije - Testiranje hipoteza - Hi-kvadrat test - Korelacijska analiza - Regresijska analiza - Indeksi - Trend
The novel AURON is an intriguing and innovative novelistic text, focusing on the ideal and single perfect proportion to the human’s eye – the golden ratio. The golden ratio, a universal code present both in all of nature and in the universe as the complete harmony between the whole and its parts, has inspired artists and scientists of different profiles for centuries, especially painters, sculptors, architects, mathematicians, designers and constructors. And while earlier-period authors were familiar with it as well, adapting their epic poems, sonnets, dramas and even epigraphic monuments (Baška tablet being the most beautiful one) to the demands of the ideal composition, twentieth-century literature (whether in aspiration for avant-garde shocking or in the practice of postmodernist disproportion and fragmentation) has almost completely lost its sight for such quests.
By incorporating the golden ratio, on one hand, in its fundamental compositional and narrative concept (through the ratio of chapters and narrators with regard to several different criteria) and, on the other hand, in its main thematic orientation (the golden ratio is the subject matter of several topic threads, described in various and for the reader interesting ways), Auron presents a novum not only in Croatian literature but in literature in general. With its theme placed in the contemporary age (Šibenik and Osijek in the second half of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century), presenting an attractive theme (confirmed in reality) about the theft of the halo from the St. Mark sculpture on the Šibenik Cathedral and the confession of the act following about 20 years later, a variety of different male and female characters in everyday life situations (family, love, business and recreational affairs) recognizable to the contemporary reader, Auron presents the ideal read for an exceptionally broad spectrum of readers; from those looking solely for a good and interesting story, over the ones prone to the search for a perfected narrative-stylistic bravura, to artists, scientists and everyone else willing to seek the eternal and ever-intriguing codes of the world we live in.
Translated By: Josipa Forko, Master of English and German Language and Literature
BIZARRIUM consist of fifteen stories about the city of Osijek, on known and unknown people who have entered into their major attachment - life, work, residence, passing, fate or coincidence - living in others, with others, and among others. All of these characters bizarijskih bizarre and interesting story, Osijek's axis, as we ourselves are the axis of each other, and the like are all together, arranged in a series of imaginary vezničkom. Fate of which tells Bizarij (Emperor Constantius II., Isabella von Habsburg, John Korođ, A. Bernhard, Maximilian de Gosseau Heneff, Eugene of Savoy, Suleiman the Magnificent, Adela Dessaty, Nikola Zrinski, Ilija Lekic, a dancer Suleiman, Mary Pejačević ...) are very different, belonging to different historical times, falter, or simply unfold flow in different ways.
“The novel Bizarij (2009) preserves a cultural memory of the town of Osijek, at the same time recycling faction through fiction just as the author did in her other novels (Az, Auron, Vilikon). The novel here is being seen as a post-OULIPO (Ouvroir de littérature potentielle) narrative that shapes a conceptual Romanesque-like structure primarily as grammar code for subordinate conjunctions and their dependent and independent clauses in Croatian language. Apart from the grammar code for novel composition and its conceptualization, as well as its 15 chapters, the novel provides very important ties between the narrators and the characters and their elaborate distribution. A key figure is a phantasmagoric character of Isabella von Habsburg, functioning as the novel’s recurrent theme, but also a Jacques Lacan-like point de capiton. The conceptualization of Romanesque-like structure is also achieved by further elaboration of symmetry motive, used at several discourse layers in various ways. The symmetry exists in distribution of the narrators’ voices, as key order of narration. The novel has 15 different narrators and particular importance is given to interconnection between the characters and the narrators and their ties to socio-historic periods they belong to. It is the very order of the characters and/or narrators through different criteria – gender, historic period, profession, and their ethnicity – that gives the convincing and credible multi-layered cultural memory of the town of Osijek. At the same time, it deconstructs some established notions and prejudices, and yet builds some new, possible ways how to perceive the town or its history. A distinct, narrative set of methods that is characteristic for a scientific, lexicographical discourse type, additionally proves our ‘reading‘ of Osijek as a cultural mnemotope.”
(Kos-Lajtman, Buljubašić: A Conceptual Mnemotope of Osijek in Jasna Horvat's Novel Bizarij)
Pilot of the novel takes place in the 9th century, at the time the brothers Constantine (Cyril) and Methodius. The central figure of the novel is the Constantine the Philosopher, the creator of a new Glagolitic alphabet in which the characters are stored not only the letter but also numeric and symbolic value. Constantine has found the inspiration for Glagolitic letters in the game of Nine Men\\\'s Morris, or mill, the game that is played everywhere since childhood... As construction of the rosette and its various plot, which was performed Glagolitic letters, Constantine confirms the importance of combinations, as well as novel as a whole, a structure composed by numeric values of Glagolitic letters, where each chapter opens a letter, confirming the importance of play as such.Plot of the novel takes place in Istanbul, Kerson, Moravia, Dalmatia, Venice and Rome. Life story of Constantine Cyril, from different angles and in different ways, illustrate four narrators (Methodius, Empress Theodora, Anastasius the Librarian and the Croatian prince Mutimir).
“The novel Az by Jasna Horvat, with Glagolitic alphabet in the core of its thematic, structural, conceptual and ludic concept, is characterized by creative play and creation at all discourse levels. An important place in such an approach belongs to numeric symbolism, which is used in multiple ways at different textual levels and in all parts of the novel. By combining numeric, alphabetic and symbolic coding of Glagolitic alphabet with the complex structure of the novel, the fragmentary quality of each part, but also the mosaic quality within chapters, the author is building numeric and symbolic combinations corresponding to the semantic code of the Glagolitic script. Numeric and symbolic permutations include the semantic level of each chapter, but also the particular recurring motifs, into a coded network in which a certain chapter, character or situation has a designated place, defined by the symbolism of Glagolitic numerology.
The complex structure of the novel (four parts and four narrators, and the fifth who is outside the story, but the most important one for unveiling the numeric and symbolic potency of the text) can be expressed through a mathematical formula 4+1, where number four may be viewed through traditional symbolism of arrangement in the world, through Christian symbolism of four Gospels, through the concept of a quadrant planning field, which, according to some hypotheses, was used for the construction of Glagolitic characters, as well as through the symbolism of a rosette/mandala based on the geometry of a square and circle, the relationship of quaternity and trinity, the human and divine. By means of the concept of a game called the Mill, which plays an important part in the novel, the numeric structure becomes crucial - through the model of transforming a trigonal game into a tetragonal, through nine intersections and nine “mill” stones corresponding to nine chapters in the first three parts of the novel, with nine ones, tenths and hundreds, and, on the symbolic level, to the number of Glagolitic characters expressing the basic message of the Glagolitic script, and to the century when it originated.”
(Kos-Lajtman: Glagolitic-coded numeric and symbolic combinations in the novel Az by Jasna Horvat)
Krijesnici by Jasna Horvat (2009) brings us worlds of fantasy, each in its own way, with certain points of commonality (first of all, by touching on the elements of the Potter-type of novel), but also with differences, which are most evident in their attitude towards the early Croatian mythological substrate as an intertext and an important constitutive element of the fantastic realm. The entire fantasy world in the novel Krijesnici, and the structure of the story itself, rests on a literary template based on a mythological and historiographic intertext – on the novel Knez Zoran by Dragutin Nemet (1929). Hence the fantastic in the author Horvat, besides serving as a means to present tense adventures of child protagonists, is first of all a means for the presentation of characters and situations of early Croatian mythology and folk tradition validated in the Croatian literary, historiographic and oral-folkloric discourse.
The book A Letter in a Letter is an unusual form of an epistolary novel: it is designed in the form of a letter exchange which took place over the course of almost two years between the author Jasna Horvat and Irena Vrkljan, the first lady of the Croatian literary autobiography. Written with the techniques like epistolary immediacy, simultaneousness, quotation, documentary, scientific annotation and lyric passages the novel brings an abundance of cultural themes, emotions and questions about identity and true values.
The author of the book is the professor at the Faculty of Economics in Osijek and as the narrator seeks room for herself in the gap between arid profession and lively escapes from everyday life, between Osijek and global touristic travels, between everyday working life and all sorts of perusals. In her simple, but elaborate, in no way pathetic, inconspicuously documented, emotional and always witty letters to Irena, the author writes about her travel impressions, her literary and cultural observations based upon numerous qoutes, her family memories and recollections while trying to find her own "essence" and thus establish her own identity despite all the gaps and the dissipations facing her.
The book has been inspired by Irena's book Pisma mladoj ženi (Letters to a Young Woman). As an accomplished author, Irena Vrkljan has advertently accepted the role of a means to help the development of Jasna's persona and art, and Jasna has assumed the role of a young, talented woman who by meeting the great Irena develops her own personality and art in a diverse and splendid manner.
Slavs Mythology
By employing the chatty bird Alemperka (Gemfeather), the companion of the highest Slavic god Svarog, as narrator, Jasna Horvat passes on ancient Croatian myths that are hardly familiar anymore except from some folk songs, sayings, proverbs, and folk customs. The allegoric- symbolic tales and legends mirror the old Slavs’ view of the world’s organisation. They describe the creation of the world and of the first human beings, talk about the sky and the underworld, about the world tree, kind or evil gods, fairies, ghosts, and giants. Through their combination of rhymes and rhythmic prose, the texts perfectly lend themselves to reading aloud and are clearly reminiscent of folk poetry. The appendix, which explains names and specific terms to the readers, is also very useful. The illustrations resemble bright panel paintings and thus underline the symbolic character of the tales. They help young readers grasp the content of the texts even more easily. (8+)
The book Alemperkina kazivanja (Gemfeather’s Sayings) is an interesting, unusual, informative and sententious collection of short stories. Such a refreshingly shaped text woven by poetry and prose transfers the stock of the hereditary identity, which is an important part of the national identity recognition process in young readers in these globalizing times, in a simple way.
Jasna Horvat leads us through her stories into the world of more or less known legends, giving life to fairies, good and evil gods and goddesses. She offers the new dimension of reality with her poetic text interfering like a true expert of something that children’s sentiments can’t easily explore or understand.
Primarily, she nourishes positive attitude towards the tradition and teaches about the forgotten parts of the historical heritage.
In two marvelous texts of dramatic poetry (Izgubljena vila [The Lost Fairy] and Svevidovim tragom [Tracing Svevid]) Jasna Horvat takes us into the world of more or less known legends, giving life to fairies as well as good and evil gods and goddesses. She does that in a manner of someone who very well knows something that is not easy to know and understand – a child’s feelings and a pure child’s soul. I say a child’s feelings and a pure child’s soul, even though I think that these texts are intended for all readers who are ready and capable of diving into the huge world of imagination and legends.
Using good choice of topics, the arrangement and the sequence of pictures and events as well as numerous stylistic and verbal “reels” which give a special charm to these stories, these plays, although made up and fairy-tale-like, seem full of life, they are full of sparks and fresh, the words are ripe and strong – everything is simply in its place and everything is how the reader would want it to be and how it should be.
It could be expected that these plays are going to be performed because they deserve it with its undoubted literary value, but also with its splendor of pictures and implied colors, exciting and dynamic plot, but especially with the ability to adapt to the scene.
Može li se putovanjem ostvariti potreba za upoznavanjem prostora i kultura? Nosimo li na putovanja ono što je doista potrebno i jesmo li na putovanjima drukčiji no inače? Kako se pokrećemo, koga upoznajemo i što pamtimo?
Pitanja su to na koja čitatelj može dobiti odgovor u Antiatlasu Jasne Horvat nastalom u Osijeku nakon autoričinih povrataka s najrazličitijih odredišta. Susreću se tu Indija i Jordan, Izrael i Meksiko, Kina i Brazil, Palma de Mallorca i Krk, Pariz i Barcelona, Moskva i Beograd, Kopenhagen i Tallinn, Sankt Peterburg i Helsinki, Stockholm i Beč te Zagreb i Osijek. Antiatlas donosi razmišljanja o ljudskoj pismenosti, o odlikama hebrejskog i majanskog pisma, Lullovoj Ars magni i hrvatskoj glagoljici, uspoređuje življenja po tradicijskom kanonu i po odlikama novoga doba. Antiatlas je knjiga i o suputnicima – važnom i vrijednom „začinu“ odjeljivanja iz kolotečine i svakodnevice, u njemu su portretirani važni kulturni predstavnici proputovanih destinacija, turistički vodiči, slučajni prolaznici, ali i autoričini bliski prijatelji.
Antiatlas je istodobno hommage putovanju, književnosti i prijateljstvu. On je kulturološka studija, intimni itinerarij te autoričin idearij u koji su upisani poticaji za stvaranje njezinih književnih tekstova. Neka od opisanih putovanja dio su tekstova koje je Jasna Horvat u tom trenutku ispisivala, a neka od putovanja nadahnula su autoricu za buduće, danas uglavnom ukoričene tekstove.
Osim što Antiatlas može poslužiti kao vodič i putnički priručnik onima koji putuju, ujedno je i vodič onim putnicima koji ne putuju već u svakodnevici traže putokaze za širenje vlastitih spoznaja o kulturi, filozofiji, povijesti i baštini. Time Jasna Horvat potvrđuje tezu kako je svaki dan jedno novo putovanje te da se tekstom ostvaruje odlazak u druge prostore jednako kao što se uobičajene vizure svakodnevice izoštreno uočavaju tek odlaskom i/ili pristankom na putovanje .
Moja zapisana putovanja moj su Antiatlas umnogome različit od onoga koji tražim. Pisala sam ga nazivajući samu sebe Alemperkom – mitskom pticom pričalicom, a po uzoru na one putnike čija su traganja za idealnim mjestom ostala sačuvana posredovanjem pisane riječi. Ti su putnici Odisej i Don Quijote, Ksenofont sa svojim Efeškim pričama, Ibn al-Džubajr, Evlija Čelebija, Ibn Haukal, Lav Afrikanac, Dante s Božanstvenom komedijom, a iz ovih naših krajeva – Marko Polo sa svojim Milijunom, Vladimir Mažuranić sa studijom Melek Jaše Dubrovčanina, Hektorović sa Ribanjem i ribarskim prigovaranjem te najrazličitiji biblijski i jeruzalemski itinerariji i svi ostali tekstovi koji su ozbiljavali moju potrebu da imaginarno ovjerim u stvarnom.
Antiatlas okuplja stvarna zbivanja i stvarne mape te predstavlja jedan od načina kako se izgubiti u vremenu i pronaći u prostoru. U njemu se nalaze fragmentirani i izrabrani dijelovi putopisa koje sam pisala i u obliku pisama slala svojim prijateljima. Prvi dio započinje apodemijom – uzvikom najave kretanja na put – u njemu se istodobno susreću odlazak i povratak, umijeće putovanja i umijeće ostajanja, pisanje i čitanje, stvarno i imaginarno. Drugi dio nastajao je po uzoru na čuvenu ars apodemicu ili nauk o umijeću putovanja. U njemu sam razmišljala o ovodobnom Homo viatoru – čovjeku u hodu i pokretu te sam mu namijenila svoje podsjetnike koje koristim kao dio osobne metodike „umijeća putovanja“.
The novel Viijun (2016) by contemporary Croatian author Jasna Horvat is set in the year when the great ruler Kublai Khan and his confidant Marco Polo reach a parting of the ways. After the 17-years service in Kublai-Khan's Court, Marco Polo pleads to be allowed to return to the Kingdom of Croatia. Kublai Khan insists on Marco explaining the reasons why he should let him return home, which is at the same time the occasion for this fellowhisp at the very end of Kublai Khan's life.
Besides providing a comprehensive account of Croatia — his homeland on the Adriatic Sea where fairies, invisible women from the Kingdom of Croatia, dwell, Marco Polo also mentions experience he gained in the Khan's Empire, as well as the travellers going along the two routes on the Silk Road to bow before the Great Khan. In his accounts, Marco Polo mentions both Korčula, Šibenik, Venice – the cities on the coast of the Adritic Sea and the cities along the continental and sea trade routes on the Silk Road. Almost like a magic song, descriptions of mediaval stations emerge before the Great Khan's eyes. Literary connection between today's China and Europe is presented through descriptions of geographical locations, history and culture of the cities along the Maritime Sea Route, which take Marco back to Croatia and Europe (Bagan, Chengdu, Camblau, Hormuz, Arbil, Trabzon, Constantinople) by the author applying the concept of storytelling from an outside the time perspective. The Silk Road in two Marco's directions, from West to East and from East to West, generates in Vilijun a palindromic sequence of reading the same in either direction favoured in the poetics of the Oulipians – writers and mathematicians whose expression is very close to that of the author Jasna Horvat.
The plot takes place throughout a year in which Kublai Khan and Marco Polo spend their time at the Khan's residences. Here the reader finds out about the life of the Great Khan in the capital city Camblau, his hunting habits as well as the valuables of the Great Empire such as tea, spices, silk, porcelain, cashmere, paper and compass. By getting to know Kublai Khan more thoroughly the reader gets an insight into the wealth of the then Empire, the nomads travelling along the sea and continental route on the Silk Road and cultural exchange between East and West. On the occasion of their parting Marco Polo and Kublai Khan exchange gifts - Marco Polo is given the Map of the World and the Golden tablet – the special passport through the Khan's Empire, and Kublai Khan a salt nugget from the Kingdom of Croatia and the word million which was invented by Marco Polo to describe the greatness of Ancient China.
The novel Vilijun is adorned with numerous quotations from Coleridge's poem Kublai Khan or A Vision in a Dream , Orhan Pamuk's Snow , Jorge Luis Borges's The Dream of Coleridge or Calvin's Invisible Cities and many others. With these quotes, the novel becomes a literature catalogue of major world writers dealing with Kublai Khan and Marco Polo as the main theme in their literary texts. All of the above mentioned leads to the conclusion that the novel Vilijun connects the Great Empire with today's China, and today's China with cultural achievements of the Silk Route as pivotal, all-time link between East and West.
Atanor je roman za čije se dubinsko čitanje ključ nalazi u periodnom sustavu elemenata položenom u središte ljudskoga postojanja. Likovi su metafore kemijskih elemenata, a životopisi i uloge u romanu određene su im svojstvima elemenata koje predstavljaju.
Radnja romana opisuje trenutak u kojemu je glavni lik Vatroslav Pero Horvat (vodik – špijun) doznao za nestanak Sunčice Davorke Završnik (helij – kemičarka znanstvenica). To dvoje junaka kozmički su povezani od postanka svijeta jer, kako doznajemo, helij je element nastao mutacijom vodika, prvog i kozmički najstarijeg elementa u periodnom sustavu elemenata. Takvim povezanostima zbog kojih smo jedni drugima kozmički i duhovni srodnici ne mogu umaknuti niti ostali likovi ovoga romana. Time je periodni sustav elemenata književna mapa, no ujedno i krvna slika kozmosa kroz koju se čita uloga svakog lika-elementa, a uzbudljiv zaplet Atanora pred čitatelje postavlja novu knjigu igračku koju je moguće čitati u svim smjerovima.
Naslov romana povezan je s enigmom ljudskoga tijela i rijetkih spoznaja. Kozmička peć (atanor) istodobno označava životvornu toplinu, težnju za stvaranjem plemenitih djela, ali i gibanja koja izgrađuju zbilju. Riječ je to kojom su alkemičari označavali peć za pripremanje eliksira besmrtnosti, oznakom je ljudskoga tijela te je time i pojednostavnjena slika kozmosa.
Atanor je posljednji u nizu oulipovskih romana Jasne Horvat i još jedna knjiga igračka otvorena mnogim raznovrsnim načinima čitanja. Atanor je i pametan roman jer su u njega ugrađeni QR kodovi, a čitatelji se njime koriste uz pomoć pametnih telefona.
