Anto Gardaš and Hrvoje Kovačević – Two Generations of the Children’s Action Novel Genre

Ako u okviru hrvatskoga dječjeg romana pratimo razvoj akcijskoga tipa romana o poduzetnoj djeci željnoj pustolovina, možemo izdvojiti sljedeće autore kao bitne točke na razvojnoj liniji te vrste dječje knjiženosti, čiji su romani recepcijski izuzetno uspješni: Mato Lovrak, Ivan Kušan, Milivoj Matošec, Anto Gardaš i Hrvoje Kovačević. Posljednju dvojicu, Gardaša i Kovačevića, osim što ih povezuje slavonsko podneblje kao životni prostor i kao prostorni lokalitet mnogih njihovih romana, povezuju još i mnoge druge strukturne, žanrovske, stilske i idejne činjenice. U ovome radu usporedili smo njihova djela u kojima nalazimo određene poveznice. Obojica su se potvrdila kao majstori u vođenju radnje, stvaranju zapleta i neočekivanih obrata te spretnih raspletanja radnje. Kod obojice je u većini djela dominantna kompozicija detekcijskoga romana koja će u nekim djelima zadobiti čvrstu žanrovsku potku krimića, u nekima znanstvenofantastičnoga romana, a u nekima horora. Izvan ove klasifikacije ostaje i kod jednog i kod drugog književnika nekoliko romana u kojima autori u potpunosti izbjegavaju dotada uspostavljene šablone i u središte postavljaju ljudski karakter kao osnovicu strukture romana, pa bismo takav tip najbolje odredili kao roman lika. Sličnosti i razlike promotrili smo i s obzirom na generacijsku razliku između te dvojice autora.If we follow the development of the genre of action novels about resourceful children hungry for adventures, we can single out the following authors as significant points on a developmental timeline of this type of children’s literature, whose novels have always been, reception-wise, extremely successful: Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić (with Hlapić the Apprentice), Mato Lovrak, Ivan Kušan, Milivoj Matošec, Anto Gardaš, and Hrvoje Kovačević. The final two, Gardaš and Kovačević, are connected not only by their home region of Slavonia (also the spatial locality of their many novels), but also by many other facts related to structure, genre, style, and ideas. This paper shall compare their works in which we find certain connections. They have both been recognised as masters in leading the story, creating the plot and its unexpected twists, and coming up with crafty denouements. In most of their novels, both authors exhibit a dominant composition style of a detective novel, which is clearly presented through various genres – whether as a crime story, a science fiction novel, or a horror story. With both authors, several novels are kept outside any classification attempts. In these, the authors completely avoid established patterns and put the human character in the middle as a basis of the novel’s structure, so we would classify this type of work as a character novel. We shall also examine the similarities and differences between the two authors from the aspect of the generation gap between them