Croatian Tales of Long Ago

Considered the best collection of fairy tales in Croatian literature, Croatian Tales of Long Ago is undoubtedly the masterpiece of Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić, one of Croatia’s most famous children’s writers. The fluent narration, picturesque expression, and richness of vocabulary make these stories beautiful. Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić gained world fame and a reputation as the “Croatian Andersen” with the popular Hlapich and Croatian Tales of Long Ago. Both books have been published many times and translated into many languages.
This volume collects together all eight fairy tales in a brand-new translation by Martin Mayhew and is lavishly illustrated by Manuel Šumberac.
Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić was born 150 years ago on 18 April 1874 in
Ogulin, into the distinguished Mažuranić family. Her grandfather
was Ban Ivan Mažuranić, a famous writer whose works included
The Death of Smail-aga Čengić. Ivana was educated privately, with
a strong emphasis on the French language and culture. She spent
most of her childhood in Zagreb, and on her eighteenth birthday,
she married the politician Vatroslav Brlić and moved to live with
him in Slavonski Brod. She gave birth to seven children, two of
whom died shortly after birth.
In 1902, Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić published her first collection
of short stories entitled Valjani i nevaljani (The Good and the
Naughty). However, she experienced real success in 1913 with
Čudnovati zgode šegrt Hlapić (The Strange Adventures of Hlapich
the Apprentice), the first Croatian children’s novel. She reached her
literary peak in 1916 with Priče iz davnine (Croatian Tales of
Long Ago), a collection of eight fairy tales. She described them as
follows: “It was my endeavour to weave the names, characters and
spirit of ancient Croatian and general Slavic mythology and those
that are less well known into a completely free invention with
these stories.” And she succeeded magnificently in this: the fluent
narration, picturesque expression, and richness of vocabulary
make these stories beautiful. Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić gained world
fame and a reputation as the “Croatian Andersen” with the popular
Hlapich and Croatian Tales of Long Ago. Both books have been
published numerous times and translated into many languages.
Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić was the first woman admitted to the
then Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts and was an honorary
member of the PEN International, a worldwide association of
writers. She was nominated several times for the Nobel Prize in
Literature.
Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić tragically ended her life in Zagreb in
1938 at the age of sixty-four. The Brlić family’s archive in Slavonski
Brod preserves their literary legacy, manuscripts, and letters,
and every year, they hold a literary and cultural event called In the
World of the Fairy Tales of Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić. In addition to
this, in Ivana’s home town of Ogulin, the Ogulin Fairy Tale Festival
has been held every year in her honour since 2006. Furthermore,
in 2013, Ivana’s House of Fairy Tales was opened, a unique
multimedia and interactive centre that celebrates fairy tales and the
work of Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić, the unique and beloved writer who
left everyone in Croatia and beyond such wealth.