Biography

Juraj "Jure" Kaštelan (1919–1990) was a Croatian poet and writer, considered one of the most important Yugoslav poets of the twentieth century. His first poems were published in 1936 and 1937. His first novel, Crveni konj (The Red Horse) was published in 1940 in Zagreb, but it was quickly banned and destroyed. This collection espoused revolutionary sentiments that were pervasive among young Croatian poets before the war. Kaštelan believed that poets were not exempt from participating in the struggle towards a better life; during the Second World War he joined the National Liberation Struggle and worked with the Partisan press. During the war he wrote about the revolution and partisan struggles. His cycle Tifusari (Typhus Victims), together with Goran Kovačić’s Jama (The Pit) and Popovič’s Oci (Eyes), considered to be one of the strongest examples of Yugoslav Partisan Poetry. Though Kaštelan is best known for his poetry, he also wrote a play (Pijesak i pjena, Sand and Foam; 1958), a collection of short stories (Čudo i smrt, Wonder and Death), numerous essays, articles, commentaries, and criticisms of his contemporaries. In 1965 he was awarded the Vladimir Nazor Award for Literature, and in 1979 he became a member of the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts.

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