Quick Facts
Biography
Ksaver Šandor Gjalski, or Ljubomil Tito Babić (26 October 1854 – 6 February 1935) was a Croatian writer and civil servant.
His real name was Ljubomil Babić and he was born in the Gredice castle near Klanjec and Zabok in Hrvatsko Zagorje, into a minor aristocratic family. He finished high school in Varaždin and earned law degrees in Zagreb and Vienna. He was also involved in politics. In 1906, he got elected into the Croatian Parliament. 1917 through 1918, he held the post of mayor of the Zagreb county.
He wrote novels, but his best known work is Pod starim krovovima (Under Old Roofs), a collection of short stories in which he described the economic decline of the Croatian aristocracy. Gjalski managed to combine realism and poetry in his work because of his status as an aristocrat and his strong emotional connection to the region of Hrvatsko Zagorje. His importance in modern Croatian literature was described by the Croatian historiographer Antun Barac: "His appearance in the literature and political life of Croatia was fateful, and his work links the romantic orientation of Croatian writers of the sixties and seventies (of the 19th century) with the modern outlook of those who discovered the wider and stronger cultural life of Europe."
Gjalski's writings were heavily inspired by Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev, August Šenoa as well as realism and romanticism in general.
Major Works
His major works are: U novom dvoru (1885), Pod starimi krovovi (1886), U noći (1887), Janko Borislavić (1887), Đurđica Agićeva (1889), Na rođenoj grudi (1890), Osvit (1892), Radmilović (1894), Za materinsku rieč (1902), Dolazak Hrvata (1924), Pronevjereni ideali (1925), etc.