Ignjat Đurđević

Ignjat Đurđević (also Ignazio Giorgi; February 1675 – 21 January 1737) was a baroque poet and translator from the Republic of Ragusa, best known for his long poem Uzdasi Mandaljene pokornice ("Sighs of Repentant Magdalene"). He wrote poetry in three languages: Latin, Italian and Croatian.[1]

Ignjat Đurđević
Ignazio Giorgi
Born(1675-02-00)February 1675
Dubrovnik, Republic of Ragusa (modern-day Croatia)
Died21 January 1737(1737-01-21) (aged 61)
Dubrovnik, Republic of Ragusa
OccupationPoet, translator

Biography

Đurđević was born in Ragusa to Bernardo Giorgi and Teresa Zlatarić. He did not belong to the House of Giorgi, but to a minor, recently ennobled, family, the Giorgi di Bernardo.[2]:145 He was a member of the Great Council (1693), duke of Šipan Island (1695) and Lovrijenac fortress captain (1696).[3]

As a member of a rich and respectable family, he lived recklessly and often in debauchery. His love adventures cost him the position of the duke on Šipan. Because of his unrequited love towards a diklica (girl) from Dubrovnik and a libertine poem he wrote to her, Đurđević even had to leave the city for a while. In 1698 he joined Jesuits in Rome where he completed philosophy studies and worked as a teacher.[3] In 1706 he joined Benedictines in Dubrovnik, but was expelled from the city between 1710 and 1712 when he lived in Rome and Napoli.[3]

He was a tri-lingual poet (he wrote in Latin, Italian and Croatian) with deep feelings, unrestrained by Catholic morals. His fiery Ljuvene pjesni (Love Poems) are some of the best lyric poems from Dubrovnik, with influences of Bunić's verse. Suze Marunkove (Marunko's Tears), Đurđević's poem about Marunko from the island of Mljet, who is sighing because of a beautiful djevičina (maid) Pavica, were obviously inspired by Derviš, written by his namesake Stijepan Đurđević. Still, Ignjat often manages to surpass Stijepan because of his freer style.

After more than twenty years of preparations, Đurđević printed Uzdasi Mandaljene pokornice ("Sighs of Repentant Magdalene") in Venice in 1728, together with the cycle of Pjesni razlike (Various Poems). Magdalene is his most beautiful work, while Poems have exceptionally varied themes and forms. Experts in Croatian literature like Mihovil Kombol and Ivo Frangeš noticed that the themes and forms of Đurđević's Poems are similar to the poems of Fran Krsto Frankopan.

In 1729, his Saltijer slovinski (Slavic Psalms) were printed in Venice. They contain translations or paraphrases of the psalms of King David. Their fine language and style distinguish them from many similar translations made by the poets of Dubrovnik.

Publications

Sighs of Repentant Magdalene (Uzdasi Mandaljene Pokornice), 1728

See also

References
  1. Greene, Roland; Cushman, Stephen (2016). The Princeton Handbook of World Poetries. Princeton University Press. p. 136. ISBN 9781400880638.
  2. Šime Ljubić (Simeone Gliubich) (1856). Dizionario biografico degli uomini illustri della Dalmazia (in Italian). Vienna: Rod. Lechner.
  3. Živojin Boškov (1971). Živan Milisavac (ed.). Jugoslovenski književni leksikon [Yugoslav Literary Lexicon] (in Serbo-Croatian). Novi Sad (SAP Vojvodina, SR Serbia): Matica srpska. p. 116-117.
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