An international academic conference and exhibition dedicated to August Šenoa's novel Beware the Hand of Senj will be held in Zagreb on 24 and 25 November. The event is organised by the Senj Museum Society and the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Zagreb, and is titled 'Senj Between History and Literature: August Šenoa's Beware the Hand of Senj'.
The occasion for this conference and exhibition is the 150th anniversary of the first book edition of Šenoa's novel, a significant work of Croatian literature. The novel immortalises the town of Senj, the Senj uskoks, and the history of the region from the late 16th and early 17th centuries, thereby highlighting its importance for cultural and historical heritage.
Miroslav Glavičić, president of the Senj Museum Society, emphasised the importance of this project, which brings together scientists from various domestic and foreign institutions. Participants include experts from the Department of Croatian Studies, History, Comparative Literature and Information Science at the Faculty of Philosophy, the Faculty of Catholic Theology, the Croatian Institute of History, the Croatian Catholic University, as well as representatives from institutions in Belgrade, Pécs, Poznań, and the international organisation AI4LAM from Oslo.
The conference will be organised into four thematic sections covering the historical context of Senj, Šenoa's poetics of the historical novel, the application of digital humanities and artificial intelligence in the analysis of Šenoa's texts, and cultural memory and international reception. The venue for the conference will be the council chamber and library of the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Zagreb.
This project represents a significant opportunity to promote Senj's historical, literary and cultural heritage at the national and international level. It also contributes to the valorisation of Senj's heritage and its positioning in the contemporary cultural space, the organisers said.
