THE MECHANISM OF HOAX IN DRŽIĆ'S NOVELA OD STANCA AND THE STORY CARUSO BY ANTE TOMIĆ

Abstract

The dramatic work Novela od Stanca by Marin Držić and the story “Karuzo” by Ante Tomić, published in the anthology Look What the Cat Dragged in (2017), will be viewed in a comparative light, bearing in mind hoax as their common thematic motive thread. Although they were created in different periods, these two literary works are determined in a specific way by the carnival atmosphere. Through a gradual interpretation, the paper will point out several similarities in the execution of the joke/hoax in Držić's and Tomić's work. The focus of the analysis will be on the characters of the cheated, Marin from Split and Stanac the Herzegovinian peasant, as well as a group of characters who carry out the prank. The fraud, realized in varying degrees of crudeness, establishes a mechanism that is identical, which confirms the universal nature of the works of Držić and Tomić, as well as the presence of the spirit of Držić's creativity in our time. With this work, we try to point out the possibility of new readings of Držić's work, as well as contemporary prose.