THE UNKNOWN JOSIP HORVAT: Articles in “Obzor” on the Consequences of the Great War

Abstract

Hrvatski novinar Josip Horvat (1896. – 1968.) bio je vojnik u Prvom svjetskom ratu; kao austrougarski vojnik bio je u Galiciji, gdje ga je 1916. ruska vojska zarobila. Vratio se iz zarobljeništva u rujnu 1918. Godine 1919. vraća se u novine „Obzor“, s kojim je surađivao od 1913. U razdoblju od prosinca 1920. do ljeta 1923. Horvat je u „Obzoru“ objavio petnaestak članaka, od kojih većinu tijekom 1922. U objavljenim člancima Horvat, na primjerima pojedinih književnih djela iz europskih književnosti, ukazuje na dekadenciju i stvaralačku nemoć, koja je prema njegovom mišljenju zahvatila europske književnike nakon Velikog rata. U tim se člancima Horvat pokazuje kao anglofil, pristalica britanske kolonijalne politike te ujedno vidimo kakve je posljedice sudjelovanje u ratu ostavilo na njega: iz rata se Horvat vraća kao cinik, koji je uvjeren kako rat može biti ipak koristan za narode koji su njime zahvaćeni.SUMMARY The Croatian journalist Josip Horvat (1896 – 1968) was an Austro-Hungarian World War One soldier, and as such he was in Galicia in 1916, where he was taken prisoner by the Russian Army. He returned from captivity in September of 1918. In 1919 he returned to “Obzor”, the newspaper he had worked for since 1913. Horvat\u27s fifteen articles were published in “Obzor”, from December 1920 till the summer of 1923, mostly during 1922. In the published articles Horvat points out to the decadency and creative impotence that had, in his opinion, overtaken European writers following the Great War, setting as examples certain concrete European literary works. In the said articles Horvat shows his tendencies as an Anglophile, supporter of British colonial politics, whereby the consequences of his participation in the war are obvious: Horvat returns from the war as a cynic who is convinced that war could yet be useful to the people affected by it