IVO VIDAN:  The Department of English

Although it was only after the Second World War that significant numbers of Croatian students began choosing English as their major subject, the history of English studies at the University of Zagreb can be traced back to the courses introduced by Aleksandar Lochmer in 1889. They included the study of English language as well as analyses of English literature. The full recognition of English and its administrative establishment within the Faculty of Philosophy, however, was the result of the enthusiasm of Professor Josip Torbarina, the founding father of the Department of English. Returning to Zagreb from Cambridge, where he had studied English, and London, where he had received his doctorate, Josip Torbarina started teaching English at the Faculty of Philosophy in 1934, when English was still perceived as very much foreign to Croatian culture, and was therefore studied as a supporting subject, and not as a fully-fledged subject. As early as 1935, however, Torbarina managed to promote English to a university-level course that could be studied as a major. Though no official records survive to verify the exact number of students who chose English as their major in the years before the Second World War, it is estimated that there were a total of 10 to 15 students of English enrolled in all four years of the course of studies. This number is all the more striking when compared with the nearly 850 students of English enrolled in all four years in 2001.

The role that Josip Torbarina played in the academic institutionalization of English can hardly be overestimated. For a long time he taught practically all courses required by the syllabus, while his scholarly zeal and competence compensated for the serious shortage of English books, periodicals and other reading materials in the libraries of the Faculty of Philosophy. The English Department library was founded in 1936 with some 200 books donated by the British Council, and it was only after 1945 that the library managed to get more books and other reading materials in English. The English Seminar became an autonomous administrative unit of the Faculty in 1944, and in 1946 Torbarina introduced additional courses, including the historical surveys of both English and American literature, the study of Chaucer, and practical phonetics classes.

At about that time two more lecturers joined Professor Torbarina - Mira Janković and Rudolf Filipović. While Janković specialized in literature, Filipović decided to pursue the study of language. In 1950 Filipović was elected Chair of the English Language Section and Torbarina Chair of the English Literature Section, while the English Seminar was officially transformed into the Department of English. Professor Filipović’s arrival gave an important impetus for the development of the English language and the linguistic component of the Department’s teaching and research effort. Filipović soon initiated a number of high-profile international linguistic projects, one of which was the productive English-Croatian Contrastive Analysis Project. In addition, he worked as chief editor of the most distinguished English-Croatian dictionary. Filipović’s linguistic projects attracted new linguists, most of whom pursued their graduate studies in Durham and London, under Randolph Quirk. This new generation branched out in various directions: Damir Kalogjera and Vladimir Ivir  specialized in syntax (Kalogjera also in sociolinguistics, Ivir in translation theory), Željko Bujas in lexicology, Dora Maček in the history and varieties of English, Leonardo Spalatin in parts of speech syntax, Ivo Krile in componential analysis. A more recent generation of linguists in the Department includes Milena Žic-Fuchs, who works on multilateral interdisciplinary projects in the field of cognitive linguistics, and Višnja Josipović-Smojver, whose research interests lie in the field of phonetics. The youngest generation of linguists in the Department, who are also involved in the projects, includes Irena Zovko-Dinković, Nina Tuđman-Vuković and Mateusz-Milan Stanojević. Practical language teaching in the Department of English was always an important element of the course of studies. Important links with linguistic studies and the study of literature were built by such lektors as Grgić, Tomljenović, Vouk, Vlatković, Velčić, Dubravčić, Kovačević, Brusar, Karlovčan, Pletikosa and Kesić-Šafar. New trends in English language teaching necessitated also a more diversified organization of practical language classes. Consequently, a number of new lektors joined the Department, bringing in new ideas to practical language classes. The Department now boasts a team of lektors including Vera Andrassy, Vesna Beli, Jasna Bilinić-Zubak, Marka Filipović, Alexander Hoyt, Stjepan Maričić, Marija Marušić, Nataša Pavlović, Jasenka Šafran, Vlatka Valentić, Snježana Veselica-Majhut and Lovorka Zergollern-Miletić.

Professor Torbarina, on the other hand, initiated a comparative approach to English literature and was among the first scholars to explore the interaction of English and Croatian literary traditions. His study relating the poets of the Ragusan Republic to Shakespeare and English Renaissance in general is still considered a major contribution to the tradition of Croatian comparative study of literature. The comparative approach remained popular among Torbarina’s many doctoral students, resulting in a number of doctoral dissertations. Sonja Bašić wrote about Edgar Allan Poe in Croatian and Serbian literatures, Tatjana Blažeković about the impact of English literature on the Croatian Moderna, and Mladen Engelsfeld about the specific conditions of the Croatian translations of Shakespeare. In the later generations of scholars this line of study is best exemplified by the work of Ivo Vidan, who succeeded Torbarina as Chair of the Literature Section. Vidan published two books focusing on a variety of intertextual relations between English and Croatian literatures. This kind of critical interaction was very much facilitated by the arrival of Sonia Wild-Bićanić, an Oxford graduate. Arriving in Zagreb immediately after the Second World War, Sonia Wild-Bićanić played an instrumental role in the functioning of the Department and the teaching of English literature. The comparative orientation within the Department’s Literature Section is reflected also in two current projects, headed by Sonja Bašić and Janja Ciglar-Žanić. Professor Ciglar-Žanić coordinates the project focusing on the Croatian reception of Shakespeare, while Sonja Bašić coordinates the project focusing on the interrelation between Croatian literature and the literatures of the English-speaking peoples  in the twentieth century. Apart from comparative studies, mention ought to be made also of theoretically informed studies of British literature per se by teachers and scholars such as Višnja Sepčić, Matej Mužina, and more recently, Ljiljana Ina Gjurgjan, Tatjana Jukić Gregurić and Borislav Knežević. The widening of the cultural span is reflected also in a course in Australian literature introduced by Professor Ciglar-Žanić. The youngest generation of teachers and scholars in the Literature Section includes Ivan Lupić, Tamara Petrić, Iva Polak, and Maja Tančik.

In 1981 Željko Bujas, Sonja Bašić and Ivan Matković established the American Studies Section within the Department of English, relying heavily on an interdisciplinary approach to American culture and on Area Studies. Though each of them worked primarily within their original fields of teaching and research (Bujas taught courses in lexicology and the contrastive analysis of British vs. American English; Sonja Bašić in modern American literature, writing extensively about W. Faulkner; Ivan Matković in American drama), they managed to include the perspectives congenial to anthropology, political theory and economics, and also organize a graduate program in American Studies. The new generation of scholars and teachers specializing in American studies includes Jelena Šesnić and Sven Cvek.

The TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) Section was fully developed by Mirjana Vilke, who was later joined by Jelena Mihaljević Djigunović. In 1991 Mirjana Vilke launched a research project on early learning of foreign languages, which attracted collaborators from other foreign language departments at the Faculty of Philosophy. Under her leadership they investigated the process of early foreign language learning, linking theoretical issues with practical teaching in a number of experimental schools. Their findings were published in four monographs, three of them in foreign languages, and are by now well known internationally. The approach developed within this project is recognized as the Zagreb school of early learning. Jelena Mihaljević Djigunović, on the other hand, specializes in affective factors influencing the language learning process and has also published widely in the field. More recently, the TEFL Section was joined by Marta Medved Krajnović.

The Department nowadays offers undergraduate teaching degrees as well as non-teaching bachelor’s degrees in English.

The most recent extension of the Department of English is a six-semester study of the Swedish language and literature, initiated by Dora Maček in 1985. The program first comprised courses in the Swedish language and social and cultural background, but was soon extended in order to include courses in Swedish and other Scandinavian literatures, as well as a short course in Norwegian. In 1994 it was established as an autonomous section within the Department. The program now covers both language and literature courses, taught by Dora Maček, Goranka Antunović, Goranka Lozanović and, most recently, Jasna Novak.

The post-graduate studies in linguistics and literature owe a great deal to the contributions made by the Department of English both as teachers and administrators. Apart from that, members of the English Department designed and organized post-graduate courses in applied linguistics and glottodidactics, and American Studies. As of this year, the Department runs, in conjunction with the Department of German, a two-semester post-graduate course in translation and interpreting.

The Department has always taken an active part in the life and work of the Faculty of Philosophy, and its members have held important administrative positions within the Faculty. The Department has produced three deans (Rudolf Filipović, Vladimir Ivir and Sonja Bašić) and one deputy dean (Vladimir Ivir).

One member of the English Department (Milena Žic-Fuchs) has served as Minister of Science and Technology.

Last, but certainly not least, the functioning of the Department relies heavily on the splendid work of our departmental secretary, Mira Završki, and our librarian, Mila Maršić. Without their assistance, our teaching and research activities would certainly not be what they are now.