Eugene Kumičić

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Eugene Kumičić

Eugen (Evgenij) Kumičić (born January 11, 1850 in Brsec , Istria (then Austria-Hungary), † May 13, 1904 in Zagreb ) was a Croatian teacher, politician and writer. He is considered a pioneer of Croatian naturalism .

life and work

After completing his philosophy studies in Vienna , Kumičić returned to his homeland for a number of years as a high school teacher in Split , Zadar and Zagreb - interrupted by study visits to Paris and Venice to learn French and Italian. Thanks to his stay in France, he became acquainted with naturalistic literature, mainly represented by Zola . She had turned to the present and the by no means just “beautiful” everyday life of ordinary people. Kumičić is considered to be the author who introduced this point of view into Croatian literature, especially with his essay O romanu (About the novel) from 1883 and with his dramas Sestre (Sisters) from 1890 and Obiteljska tajna (The Family Secret ) from 1891 . Turgenev's influence in Croatia should also go back to him.

Around 1880 Kumičić was active in the Zagreb literary scene as well as in the nationalist politics of his country, which was under the rule of Austria-Hungary . He welcomed Ante Starčević's ideas and joined his right-wing party , for which he did press work and, from 1884, also sat in the Sabor , the Croatian parliament. In addition to some dramas and essays, Kumičić wrote numerous novels or stories that were read quite a lot - probably not least because they were, despite the “naturalistic” impact , attached to the influence of August Šenoa and accordingly displayed “romanticizing traits”. In the last years of his life, Kumičić only wrote historical novels .

literature

  • Kerubin Šegvić: Eugen Kumičić, pisac i političar, 1850-1904. Zagreb 1930.
  • Milan Ogrizovic: Kumičić u svojim djelima. In: Hrvatska knjizevna kritika. 5, Zagreb 1964, pages 219-229.
  • Mira Sertić: Stilske osobine hrvatskoga historijskog romana. In: Hrvatska knjizevnost prema evropskim knjizevnostima. Zagreb 1970, pages 221-229.
  • Miroslav Šicel: Povijesni romani Eugen Kumičić. In: Croatica. Volume 2, Zagreb 1971, pages 177-200.
  • Miroslav Vaupotić: Knjizevno djelo Eugen Kumičić. In: Eugen Kumičić: Gospoda Sabina. Zagreb 1974, pages 5–22 (with bibliography).
  • Šeper:  Kumičić Eugen. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 4, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1969, p. 345.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ McGraw-Hill: Encyclopedia of World Drama. Volume 1, 1984, page 197, online here , accessed December 19, 2011.
  2. ^ Robert A. Kann: A History of the Habsburg Empire. London 1974, page 531, online here , accessed December 19, 2011.
  3. ^ Writings at WorldCat .
  4. ↑ Kindler's New Literature Lexicon in the Munich 1988 edition.
personal data
SURNAME Kumičić, Eugene
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kumičić, Evgenij; Sisolski, Jenio (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Croatian teacher, politician and writer
DATE OF BIRTH January 11, 1850
PLACE OF BIRTH Brsec , Istria
DATE OF DEATH May 13, 1904
Place of death Zagreb