Eugen Kumičić

Eugene ( Evgeny ) 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 from Vienna returned to his home, Kumicic initially worked for several years as a secondary school in Split, Zadar and Zagreb - interrupted by periods of study in Paris and Venice for the purpose of learning of French and Italian. The stay in France he owed his acquaintance with the naturalistic literature, the leading role of Zola. She had turned to the presence and not just "nice" everyday life of ordinary people. Kumicic is considered the author who has this view, especially with his essay O Romanu ( About the novel ) of 1883, with its dramas Sestre (sisters) of 1890 and Obiteljska tajna introduced ( The Myth ) from 1891, in the Croatian literature. The influence Turgenews in Croatia is expected to fall on him.

Around 1880 Kumicic was also active in the Zagreb literary scene as in the nationalist politics of his country, which was under the rule of Austria -Hungary. He welcomed the idea Ante Starcevic and joined the party of the right to, for he did press work and from 1884 also in the Sabor, the Croatian Parliament was sitting. Kumicic wrote alongside some dramas and essays, numerous novels or short stories, which were also quite a lot of reading - probably not least because they were arrested the influence August Šenoas despite the " naturalistic " felling and accordingly " romanticized trains " showed. In his last years Kumicic wrote only historical novels.