Eugen Kumičić

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Eugen Kumičić
Born(1850-01-11)11 January 1850
Berschezh, Austrian Empire
(now Brseč, Croatia)
Died13 May 1904(1904-05-13) (aged 54)
Zagreb, Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, Austria-Hungary
(now Zagreb, Croatia)
Pen nameJenio Sisolski[1]
OccupationWriter, politician, teacher
Period1879–1902[2]
Genre
Literary movementRealism, naturalism

Eugen Kumičić (11 January 1850 – 13 May 1904)[1] was a Croatian writer and politician. Kumičić is one of the most prolific Croatian novelists of the realism era and is considered a pioneer of naturalism in Croatian literature.[2]

Biography

Kumičić was born in Brseč, Mošćenička Draga (now in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County), a small town in Istria, then part of the Austrian Empire.[1]

After majoring philosophy at the

Split and Zadar.[1] From 1875 to 1878 he spent two years in Paris and six months in Venice, preparing for his French and Italian teaching examinations. While in France, he came into contact with naturalist writing, primarily through the works of Émile Zola.[2]

Upon returning to Croatia, he spent the period from 1879 to 1883 teaching French and Italian in a Zagreb high school.

Croatian Party of Rights' magazines Hrvatska vila (1882–1883) and Hrvatska (1887–1888), and published essays, opinion pieces and short stories in them.[1] In 1884 he was elected to Croatian Parliament
and he spent most of his political career opposing the Hungarian nationalists.

Literary work

He wrote many novels and short stories, mostly dealing with working-class people in his native Istria. He also tried to introduce elements of

national romantic tendencies. His works were therefore primarily influenced by realist and romanticist writers of the era such as August Šenoa, Alexandre Dumas and Eugène Sue. Nevertheless, as he published an influential and controversial Zolaesque literary essay about the poetics of writing (O romanu, (Eng. On Novel)) in 1883, he was seen by his contemporaries as the pioneer of naturalist writing in Croatian literature.[4] Kumičić's plays were not as successful as his prose, and are described as being of modest artistic value.[3]

His literary work is usually divided into three thematic periods: the first period of his writing is marked by novels and short stories that involve romanticized descriptions of hard working Istrians' life - primarily fishermen, farmers and seamen; the bulk of his next literary phase typically deals with urban settings (the so-called city novels), where his naturalist tendencies are most prominent and which mostly involve themes of financial and moral chaos that Croatian

historical novels loosely based on important figures of Croatian history.[3]

Works

Kumičić's bust in his hometown, Brseč

Novels

  • Olga i Lina (1881)
  • Primorci (1882)
  • Začuđeni svatovi (1883)
  • Gospođa Sabina (1883)
  • Sirota (1885)
  • Teodora (1889)
  • Urota Zrinsko-Frankopanska (1893)
  • Kraljica Lepa ili propast kraljeva hrvatske krvi (1902)

Short stories

  • Slučaj (1879)
  • Jelkin bosiljak (1881)
  • Neobični ljudi (1882)
  • Ubilo ga vino (1884)
  • Preko mora (1889)
  • Saveznice (1889)
  • Otrovana srca (1890)
  • Broj 84 i 85 (1890)
  • Crn Božić (1890)
  • Tri mučenice (1890)
  • Mladost-ludost (1891)
  • Pobijeljeni grobovi (1896)

Plays

  • Sestre (1890)
  • Obiteljska tajna (1890)
  • Poslovi (1898)
  • Petar Zrinski (1900)

Essays and other non-fiction

  • O romanu (1883)
  • Ivan Turgenjev (1883)
  • Pod puškom (1886)
  • Zablude naše kritike (1890)
  • Petar Zrinski, Fran Krsto Frankopan i njihovi klevetnici (1899)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Biletić, B. D. "Kumičić, Eugen". Istrapedia (in Croatian). Retrieved 9 April 2018.
  2. ^ a b c "Kumičić, Eugen". Croatian Encyclopedia (in Croatian). Miroslav Krleža Institute of Lexicography. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-953-328-098-1
    .
  4. ^ Šicel, Miroslav (April 2000). "Polemike o realizmu i naturalizmu u hrvatskoj književnosti" (PDF). Dani Hvarskoga kazališta (in Croatian). 26 (1). Retrieved 11 April 2018.
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