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.