Актуалізація антології хорватської воєнної лірики У цей страшний час в сучасній Україні

The anthology of Croatian war lyrics” “In this Terrible Time” (compiled by I. Sanader and A. Stamac, 1992) was translated and published in Ukrainian in 1996 (translators: L. Horlach, V. Zhenchenko, and L. Talalai; compiled by V. Zhenchenko). The anthology contained translations of more than 80 works by about 50 Croatian poets, which were about the “Croatian Patriotic War” that lasted at that time. The book presented artists of different ages, genders, professions, attitudes to war and pacifism, etc., including five active direct participants in military operations. Croatian poets comprehend and rethink the events, moods, and feelings of the era of military aggression of Serbia and Montenegro, which at the time of publication of the anthology was lasting and has a lot of analogies with ongoing russia's military aggression against Ukraine. A modern Ukrainian reader, if abstracts from toponyms, can perceive Croatian lyrics as works about own events, moods, and feelings: horror from the cruelty of the enemy and an unlimited number of victims, the desire for national unity at home and abroad, fostering national culture and language, indomitable steadfastness in the defence of the native land, and the fulfilment of professional and patriotic duty against any enemy intrigues (in this sense, Igor Zidić’s miniatures are indicative). The anthology of Croatian war lyrics gives Ukrainians the opportunity to rethink their experience of war, losses, to find points of support in the chaotic world of changing times, based on the experience of their predecessors. The peculiarities of the content and form of Croatian poetry of the war period are typologically similar to modern Ukrainian military literature, up to almost random echoes of images, symbols, and allusions (for example, “From Job’s Leaves” by Mladen Machiedo and “Job’s Call Sign” by Oleksandr Mykhed). Although there are differences: in the Croatian interpretation of horrors and the experience of war, “civilian” poets dominated; in the Ukrainian one, it is led by direct participants in hostilities, which is reflected in the specifics of the texts.