Balog's Language Game

Zvonimir Balog je kao dugogodišnji književnik bio više puta nagrađivan za svoja književna djela. Bitna karakteristika njegovog književnog stvaralaštva je humor, šaljivo-duhoviti ton koji postiže izborom riječi. Cilj ovog rada je upoznavanje s Balogovom jezičnom igrom u poeziji i prozi. Mnogi njegovu prozu svrstavaju u poeziju jer nema velike razlike u pisanju. Razlika je samo u tome što prozu piše od ruba do ruba stranice, no to su kratke i ritmične rečenice koje se ponekad i rimuju. Način pisanja poezije je gotovo isti kao i u prozi jer uvijek postoji nekakva vrsta jezične igre i humora. Na početku rada pisano je o Balogovom humoru koji postiže jezičnim igrama, zatim o njegovoj biografiji, a poslije je pisano o jezičnoj igri u nekoliko zbirki pjesama i u prozi - pričama, dječjem romanu te o različitim oblicima jezične igre. Na kraju se citira i nekoliko kritika o njegovome pisanju i djelima. Balogov način pisanja je poseban, i u poeziji i u prozi, i zato ima puno sljedbenika koji su počeli pisati po uzoru na njega. U djelima se igrao riječima kao malo dijete igračkama. Riječi je izokrenuo, izmijenio i stvorio sasvim nove uz pomoć svoje mašte i smisla za igru. Uz jezičnu igru, humor i nonsensnost u njegovim djelima, ljudi zaboravljaju na sve životne neprilike i ulaze u novi, čarobni svijet.As a longtime writer, Zvonimir Balog has been awarded many times for his literary works. An important characteristic of his literary work is humor, a humorous-witty tone that he achieves by choosing words. The aim of this paper is to get acquainted with Balog's language game in poetry and prose. Many classify his prose as poetry because there is not much difference in writing. The difference is only that prose is written from edge to edge of the page, but sentences are short and rhythmic and sometimes they are rhymed. Poetry is written almost in the same way as his prose because there is always some kind of language games and humor. At the beginning of the paper, it is written about Balog's humor that he achieves through language games, then about his biography and later it is written about language games in several collections of poems and prose – stories and children's novel and about various forms of language game. Finally, several critiques of his writing and literary works are quoted. Balog's way of writing is special, both in poetry and prose, and that is why he has a lot of followers who is trying to write like him. He played with words in his literary work like a child with toys. He twisted words, changed them and created completely new ones with the help of his imagination and sense of play. With language game, humor and nonsense in his literary work, people forget all the troubles in life and enter a new, magical world