Marin Drà ¾ià(; also Marino Darza or Marino Darsa; 1508 – 2 May 1567) was a Ragusan writer from Dubrovnik. He is considered to be one of the finest Renaissance playwrights and prose writers of Croatian literature.
Drà ¾iàwas born into a large and affluent family. He had six sisters and five brothers.
He was trained and ordained as a priest in Dubrovnik. Marin's uncle was another famous author Dà ¾ore Drà ¾iÃÂ. After being ordained in 1526, Drà ¾iàwas sent in 1538 to Siena in Tuscany to study the Church Canon Law, where his academic results were average. Thanks to his extroverted and warm personality, he is said to have captured the hearts of his fellow students and professors, and was elected to the position of rector of the university. Losing interest in his studies, Marin returned to the Dubrovnik Republic in 1543.
There, he became an acquaintance of Austrian adventurer Christoph Rogendorf, who was at odds with the court of Vienna. After a brief sojourn in Vienna, Drà ¾iàcame back to his native city. He pursuited various exploits, including forming relationships with a group of Dubrovnik outlaws, journeying to Constantinople and visiting Venice. After a career as an interpreter, scrivener and church musician, he even became a conspirator. Convinced that Dubrovnik was governed by a small circle of elitist aristocracy bent to tyranny, he tried to persuade in five letters (four of which survive) the powerful Medici family in Florence to help him overthrow the government in his home town; they did not respond.
He died suddenly in Venice on 2 May 1567. He was buried in the Church of St. John and Paul.
Drà ¾iÃÂ's works cover many fields: lyric poetry, pastorals, political letters and pamphlets, and comedies. While his pastorals (Tirena, Venera i Adon and Plakir) are still highly regarded as masterful examples of the genre, the pastoral has, as artistic form, virtually vanished from the scene.
His comedies are among the best in European Renaissance literature. As with other great comedy writers like Lope de Vega, Ben Jonson or Molière, Drà ¾iÃÂ's comedies are full of exuberant life and vitality, celebrating love, liberty and sincerity and mocking avarice, egoism and petty tyrants; both in the family and in the state. His best-known comedies include:
Since its independence Croatia has awarded the Marin Drà ¾iàAward for dramatic work. The Croatian Parliament also declared 2008 the Year of Marin Drà ¾iÃÂ, as it is the 500th anniversary of his birth. An avenue in Zagreb is named after him. In Draà ¡koviÃÂeva street (centre of Zagreb) there is a scenical stage named after Marin's nickname Vidra. Nicknames are given for various reasons. In Croatian the word vidra can also refer to a person who is perfidious and resourceful.