Bratoljub Klaić’s Contribution to the Reception of Ancient Greek Tragedy in Croatia

Abstract

Bratoljub Klaić began his work as a translator in the 1950’s, when new approaches and criteria were being established in the theatrical interpretation of ancient Greek drama. These approaches demanded translations that were complete in both form and content as well as being suited to new theatrical practice. This paper analyzes selected passages of Klaić’s and Rac’s translations of Sophocles’ tragedies Antigone and Oedipus the King. These passages show that Klaić was flexible in his intent to respect the integrity of the Greek original, abandoning Koloman Rac’s idea of the closest possible reconstruction of the original. Klaić’s translation method, although more liberal on all levels (metric, lexical, syntactic, and stylistic), never brought translation equivalence into question. Klaić’s verses portray him not only as a skillful translator but also as an expert on Croatian accentology and prosodic patterns. By making his translations suitable for stage speech and theatrical performance, he paved the way for a new reception of ancient Greek drama.

Keywords

• Bratoljub Klaić
• translation and reception of ancient Greek tragedy in Croatia