Biography

Aralica was born in Promina near Knin. He completed teacher training school and studied at the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Zadar. From 1953, he worked as a high school teacher in small, rural villages in northern and central Dalmatia. Early in his career, he wrote simple stories that followed the style of socialist realism, a type of writing common during the communist era. Later, he became involved in the Croatian Spring of 1971, a time of political unrest in Yugoslavia when many people called for greater freedom and independence for Croatia. After the government suppressed the movement, Aralica turned away from political writing and focused on his own ideas about literature. He was influenced by writers like Ivo Andrić, Thomas Mann, and Knut Hamsun, who wrote realistic stories and early modernist works.

Between 1979 and 1989, Aralica wrote eight novels. These books used modernist techniques to retell historical events in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina from the 16th to 18th centuries. His most famous works, such as Dogs at a Bazaar (1979) and Slaves’ Souls (1984), explored dramatic moments in history, including the long wars between the Austrian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and Venice. His stories combined deep reflections on human life with action-filled scenes. He also included detailed descriptions of nature, which connected to a larger vision of life that blended the natural and supernatural.

In 1990, after Yugoslavia introduced a multi-party system and later broke apart, Aralica was elected to the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts. He also joined politics, working for the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), which was led by Franjo Tuđman, Croatia’s first president after independence. During this time, he held important roles, including vice-president of the Croatian Parliament. He wrote two political books and two more novels.

In 2000, his political party lost power, and Aralica criticized the new government. He began writing satirical stories that disguised real events and people, such as Fukara (2002), which criticized the ideas of American billionaire George Soros. Some critics said his later works were not very artistic, but others praised them as sharp political commentaries. Aralica became a well-known figure among conservative thinkers in Croatia, who supported returning to traditional values. Supporters on the political right called his novels powerful satires.

Works

• Konjanik (1971)
• Opsjene paklenih crteža (1977)
• Psi u trgovištu (1979)
• Put bez sna (1982)
• Duše robova (1984)
• Graditelj svratišta (1986)
• Asmodejev šal (1988)
• Zadah ocvalog imperija (1991)
• Sokak triju ruža (1992)
• Majka Marija (1992)
• Spletanje i raspletanje čvorova (1993)
• Što sam rekao o Bosni (1995)
• I tu je kraj (1999)
• Ambra (2000)
• Fukara (2002)
• Puž (2004)
• Duh zloduha (2020)