Biography Essay

Three writers define the course of the Croatian- Dalmatian Renaissance. At the beginning stands Marko Marulic of Split (1450-1524), the "father of Croatian literature," a world-renowned writer in Latin, a priest of great piety, and the link between the Croatian Middle Ages and the Italian Renaissance. At the end of the period stands Ivan Gundulic of Dubrovnik (1589-1638), a pious layman who composed the Osman (circa 1621-1638), Croatia's national epic, and effected the transition in Croatian letters from the Renaissance to the baroque. Between these two is found Marin Drzic of Dubrovnik, a priest with no apparent religious calling, a prolific playwright who published little, an historical enigma whose definitive biography may never be written for lack of reliable facts. Drzic marks the height of Renaissance culture not only in Dalmatia and Croatia but throughout the Slavic world.

The first mention of Marin Drzic in the...