Jerolim Kavanjin | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1641-02-04)4 February 1641 |
| Died | 29 November 1714(1714-11-29) (aged 73) |
| Nationality | Venetian |
| Occupation | poet |
Jerolim Kavanjin, also known asGirolamo Cavagnini (4 February 1641 – 29 November 1714), was aVenetian poet fromSpalato (nowSplit,Croatia) who wrote in theCroatian language.
Kavanjin was born into a wealthy and noble family of Split, as a descendant of the Croaticised Italian family Cavagnini. Kavanjin rose to prominence at the same time asIgnjat Đurđević at the beginning of the 18th century. He was married to the sister ofJohn Peter Marchi.[1] In 1703, Kavanjin became a member of theIllyrian Academy Marchi founded in 1703.[2]
In his summer mansion onSutivan, on the island ofBrač, where he retired after military and legislative careers, Kavanjin wrote the most voluminous poetical work in the whole ofCroatian literature, with approximately 32,500 verses:Poviest vanđelska bogatoga a nesretna Epuluna i ubogoga a čestita Lazara, usually referred to by the later editors, according to the subtitle in the original, asBogatstvo i uboštvo ("Riches and Poverty"). This religious-philosophical epic is poetically inconsistent but stylistically marked (it is written, beside SplitČakavian, inIjekavian–IkavianŠtokavian).
Expressing the spirit of philosophical movements of the 17th and 18th centuries, this "encyclopædia in verses" (Josip Aranza) directs its Baroque spirituality towards the cogitation on life and human essentiality in the dual nature of the human and the divine.
Beside the classical humanistic, Latinate, and Italian literatures (such asDante), the Bible and other religious writings, and beside the historical authors (such asConstantine Porphyrogenitus,priest of Duklja,Mavro Orbini), writings of the OldDubrovnik have constituted the basic Kavanjin's reading list, above othersJunije Palmotić andIvan Gundulić.[clarification needed]
Kavanjin identified withSlavs and Dalmatia. John Fine interprets his pan-Slavism andDalmatianism to have been close to an ethnic notion.[3]
Kavanjin died inSplit, aged 73.
Besides this pan-Slavism, which produced in him the identity that came closest to being ethnic, Kavanjin exhibited the noted "Dalmatianism". This local "Dalmatian" identity was the only competitor "Slavic" had. And, after all, as he said, Dalmatia was his homeland. And two such identities could easily co-exist and both could have "ethnic" ingredients.
