The Ballads of Petrica Kerempuh
1935–1936 poetry book by Miroslav Krleža
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The Ballads of Petrica Kerempuh (Croatian: Balade Petrice Kerempuha) is a philosophically poetic work by the Croatian writer Miroslav Krleža, comprising thirty poems published between December 1935 and March 1936.
 Cover of the first edition | |
| Author | Miroslav Krleža |
|---|---|
| Original title | Balade Petrice Kerempuha |
| Language | Kajkavian |
| Genre | poetry, philosophy |
| Publisher | S. Škerl |
| Publication date | 1936 |
| Publication place | Croatia |
| Media type | Hardcover, paperback |
Overview
The work spans a period of five centuries, focusing around the commoner prophet Petrica Kerempuh, who is a type of Croatian Till Eulenspiegel.[1] It is written in the northern Croatian Kajkavian dialect.[1]
Krleža did not typically write in Kajkavian, but decided to put the dialect into focus for the ballads.[why?] Literary critics[who?] argue that he succeeded in showing that — even if in his time Kajkavian was not used in formal domains of life — it was still possible to create a work of great literal expression in it and that the Kajkavian dialect was not a less valuable literary language.[citation needed]
Plot
Legacy
The poem is generally considered[by whom?] to be a masterpiece of Krleža's literary opus and of Croatian literature.[2]
The Ballads have been translated (mostly only in part) into Slovene, Italian, Macedonian, Hungarian, Czech, French, Russian, and Arabic. A full German translation was published in 2016.[3]
