Forgoten authores Nikica Bovolini a contribution to illuminating an unknown literary work

Vera, Crljić

Prilozi za knjizevnost, jezik, istoriju i folklor

82

181

187

http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/Article.aspx?id=0350-66731682181C

2016-2020/02/11/11:58:27

The paper deals with the work of the little-known writer Nikica Bovolini (Dubrovnik, 1899 - Belgrade, 1975). She published a book of short stories entitled Between Light and Darkness (Izmedju svijetla i tmine), in Dubrovnik, in 1921. The copy of this book kept in the holdings of the National Library of Serbia in Belgrade is unique because it contains a handwritten addition - the autograph of a poem entitled To the Serbian Warrior (Srpskom ratniku), signed by the authoress. In this poem, dated in Dubrovnik in 1918, written at the end of the First World War, the young poetess Nikica Bovolini expresses sincere admiration for the Serbian soldier as a liberator of the Adriatic. The short stories in this collection were written at the end of the Great War or immediately after it, mostly inspired by the struggle for freedom and unification of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, as well as by the importance of educating young generations and the development of science in creating a better society. In periodical publications between the two world wars appeared a small number of her poems and three articles that were not of literary character. The full extent of her creativity is unknown. Nikica Bovolini was from the first generation of nurses that graduated from the School of Nursing of the Red Cross Society of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, founded in 1921 in Belgrade. As an instructor and assistant to the headmistress of the School of Nursing she significantly contributed to the organization and education of nurses in Yugoslavia after the First World War.