Some aspects of educational activity on eighteenth century Croatian North

Radnja povezuje nekoliko ideja hrvatskih autora osamnaestog stoljeća, naime, njihovu vjeru u djelotvornost knjige, misao o potrebi jednostavnog, puku razumljivog pisanja, misao o važnosti čitanja na glas u slabo opismenjenim zajednicama i nastojanje na objavljivanju početnica. Opisana je povezanost navedenih ideja, provođenjem kojih je utirana staza prosvjetnim stremljenjima na hrvatskom sjeveru osamnaestog stoljeća.This essay is focused on enlightening work of the book authors at the eighteenth century Croatian north. It challenges their views about books, writing, and reading public. The idea about the need of more effective transmission of knowledge to the neglected commoners, ubiquitous in their work, reveals profound belief in appropriateness and efficacy of books, which is sometimes considered as more longeval and more mobile than the authors themselves. Thus, at least in this sense, more effective. The knowledge transmitted through Croatian books was overwhelmingly of eclecticall nature, particularly if one speaks about religious works. However, the authors regularly changed the form of text, converting it, regarding their readers, into logically understandable form, even if they did not change the content of transmitted at all. It resulted in simple writing, and it would be completely senseless to accuse them because of poor or unattractive stile. The simple writhing gets its full meaning in ever present cases of reading aloud, that the authors wholeheartedly advocated, as it makes reader (whether he reads to his family or any other community) free of explaining some complex construction or interrupting the reading. Nevertheless, reading aloud was only temporary solution. Thus, the authors, among them the Jesuit Juraj Mulih at the first place, started publishing primers. Before 1777 and Ratio educationis publishing of primers was result of individual efforts. Since that, the Monarchy took over editing them. It is hard to evaluate success of aforementioned work. Identity of complaints regarding poor knowledge of letters and Christian teachings in the middle and at the end of the century speaks about negligible achievements caused primarily by the lack and poor implementations of institutionalised schooling