Ksaver Šandor Gjalski


Ksaver Šandor Gjalski was a Croatian writer and civil servant.
He was born Ljubomil Babić at Gredice, near Klanjec in Hrvatsko Zagorje into a minor aristocratic family. He finished high school in Varaždin and earned law degrees in Zagreb and Vienna.
He was involved in politics. In 1906, he was elected into the Croatian Parliament. From 1917 to 1918, he held the post of mayor of the Zagreb county.
He wrote novels, but his best known work is Pod starim krovovima, a collection of short stories in which he described the economic decline of the Croatian aristocracy. His writings were heavily inspired by Turgenev and Šenoa, as well as realism and romanticism in general.

Major works

His major works are: U novom dvoru, Pod starimi krovovi, U noći, Janko Borislavić, Đurđica Agićeva, Na rođenoj grudi, Osvit, Radmilović, Za materinsku rieč, Dolazak Hrvata, Pronevjereni ideali, etc.