The Progressive Feminism of Marija Jurić Zagorka’s The Witch of Grič

You are invited to the sixth event of Oglethorpe’s Year of Suffrage, a two-semester program of events celebrating the centennial of the passage of the 19^th Amendment granting women the right to vote.

Dr. Lejla Ibrahimbegovic, OU Lecturer of Core Studies, will offer “'The Progressive Feminism of Marija Jurić Zagorka’s The Witch of Grič” on Thursday, March 18th at 6 PM via Zoom (https://zoom.us/j/91620908003?pwd=d0hGTnhUMDNRQlBDc21hL0hDZkZmUT09).

Marija Juric Zagorka was the first female political journalist in Southeastern Europe, as well as a celebrated author of socio-historical romance novels. This lecture explores her subversive work’s impact on the development of women’s rights in the region by focusing on her novel series The Witch of Grič. The Witch of Grič introduces Nera Ratkay, whose fight for the liberation of women wrongly accused of witchcraft reflects Zagorka’s own ideals of women’s solidarity. 

Zagorka’s female protagonists are inspired by her own life and are each a tour de force of courage, independence and authenticity, but their storylines end on a much happier note than Zagorka's. Upon her death in 1957, she was buried with much pomp as a member of the intellectual elite, but her work and letters were only preserved unofficially, indicating the precarious position that powerful women continue to find themselves in as disruptors of the status quo. Regardless of these obstacles, Zagorka's work proved to be a tremendous success: generations of women who grew up reading her "guilty pleasure" novels were given both a voice of their own and a community of women to support their quest for equality.