Contemporary Croatian Urban Girls' Fiction

The paper analyzes four recent Croatian young adult novels; i.e. Jesam li se zaljubila? (Have I Fallen in Love?) and Sto mi se to dogada? (What is Happening to me?) by Sanja Pilic, Cuj, Pigi, zaljubila sam se (Listen, Pigi, I Fell in Love) by Branka Kalauz and Dnevnik prve ljubavi (The Diary of a First Love) by Silvija Sesto Stipanicic and Ratko Bjelcic. The novels are framed within women's genre and in the sub-genre of "girl" culture. The paper demonstrates that Croatian young adult literature has similar themes to those of adult novels which are part of contemporary Croatian urban female prose, or a kind of national chick lit. It also establishes differences between the adult- oriented women's genres and urban girls' fiction, such as clear educational intentions, the role of the mother's character, etc. An unavoidable link of all girls' and female writings is romance and therefore the greatest attention is paid to the thematic elements related to love affairs. The paper substantiates the existence of contemporary Croatian urban fiction intended for girls of pre- adolescent and younger adolescent age, and describes the specific features of the genre.