The peasantry in the context of the anlightening role in the Croatian realism literature

U doba realizma zanimanje za seljaštvo postaje sve izraženije. U mnogim su europskim književnostima seljaci postali važne figure književnih djela. U Hrvatskoj je ta situacija još zanimljivija uzmemo li u obzir situaciju u kojoj su se oni tada nalazili. Krajem devetnaestoga stoljeća na vlasti je ban Khuen Héderváry koji nije imao milosti ni prema kome, a posebno ne prema seljacima. Posljedično tome dolazi do agrarne krize, propadanja zadruga, rasprodavanja zemljišta i šuma te velikih migracija u grad. Književnost realizma poznata je po moralnim zadaćama kojima pomaže narodu tako što upućuje na najveće probleme i nepravde modernoga društva u kojemu su seljaci bili u najgorem položaju. Već predrealist August Šenoa uviđa probleme hrvatskoga društva i hrvatske književnosti koje iznosi u svome članku Naša književnost gdje izrijekom kaže da „Dok nam seljak ne bude izobraženiji (Šenoa 1996: 8-9)“, između ostaloga, neće biti napretka hrvatskoga društva. Nakon Šenoinoga doba nastupa potpuno nova, mlada generacija hrvatskih realista koja se bavi hrvatskim društvom i, između ostaloga, problemima seljaka. Formiraju se neki od najvažnijih i najbolji hrvatskih pisaca uopće koji pišu po uzoru na europske realiste. Seljaci su često prikazivani u opreci sa ljudima iz grada gdje bi češće oni bili izvor dobrote i svega ispravnoga, a postavlja se pitanje ima li to veze s pokušajem pridobivanja brojne seljačke čitateljske publike?In the period of realism, interest in the peasantry is becoming more pronounced. In many European literatures, peasants became important figures in literary works. In Croatia, this situation is even more interesting if we consider the situation in which they found themselves at the time. At the end of the nineteenth century, Ban Khuen Héderváry was in power and had no mercy on anyone, especially not on the peasants. As a result, there is an agrarian crisis, the collapse of cooperatives, the sale of land and forests and large migrations to the city. The literature of realism is known for the moral tasks that help the people by pointing out the biggest problems and injustices of modern society in which the peasants were in the worst position. The pre-realist August Šenoa already sees the problems of Croatian society and Croatian literature in his article Our literature (Naša književnost) where he explicitly says that "Until the peasant is more educated (Šenoa 1996: 8-9)", among other things, there will be no progress in Croatian society. After Šenoa's time, a completely new, young generation of Croatian realists appeared, dealing with Croatian society and, among other things, the problems of the peasants. Some of the most important and best Croatian writers in general are being formed, who are writing on the model of European realists. Peasants were often portrayed in opposition to people from the city where more often they would be a source of goodness and all right, and the question arises as to whether this has anything to do with trying to gain a large peasant readership