Branislav Nušić
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Branislav Nušić (Бранислав Нушић) (October 8, 1864 — January 19, 1938) was a Serbian novelist, playwright, satirist, essayist and founder of modern Rhetoric in Serbia. He also worked as a journalist and a civil servant. He was of Cincar (Aromanian Vlach) origin.
Nušić was born in Belgrade, Serbia, under name of Alkibijad Nuša. His father was a well known grain merchant, but lost his wealth shortly after his son's birth. He was of Cincar (Aromanian Vlach) origin. The family moved to Smederevo, where Nušić attended elementary school and first two grades of boarding school. He then moved to Belgrade, where he graduated from boarding school and eventually from law school in 1884. During his studies, he spent a year in Graz, Austria.
Nušić fought in the Serbo-Bulgarian War of 1885 while he was serving in the Serbian Army. After the war, he published a controversial poem Dva Raba in Dnevni List for which he was spent two years in prison. The poem ridiculed the Serbian monarchy, particularly King Milan.
At first he was sentenced to two months in prison, but the King pressured the judges to extend the sentence. Conditions in prison were harsh, but Nušić still managed to write a comedy: Protekcija (Protection). When he first asked the prison intendant, Ilija Vlah, for the permission to write, Vlah told him that it was writing that led him into prison, and denied his request.
Knowing that intendant read all outgoing mail, Nušić wrote a brief letter to the second husband of his aunt (he was related to her first husband), who served as a minister of justice. Nušić addressed Gersic as uncle and told him how it would be much easier for him to serve 2 years if he could write. He noted that he had no interest in writing political texts, and signed the letter your nephew. One day later, Vlah allowed him to write literature.
In 1889, Nušić became a civil servant. As an official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs he was appointed to clerk of consulate in Bitola, where he eventually married (1893). He spent a decade in southern Serbia and Macedonia. His last post in this region was vice-consul in Pristina.
In 1900, Nušić was appointed as a secretary of Ministry of Education, and shortly afterwards he became a dramaturge of Narodno pozorište (The National Theater in Belgrade). In 1904, he was appointed a head of Srpsko narodno pozorište (The Serbian National Theater) in Novi Sad. In 1905, he left his new post and moved to Belgrade to work as a journalist.
In 1912, Nušić returned to Bitola as a civil servant. In 1913, he founded a theater in Skopje, where he lived until 1915. Due to the World War I, Nušić fled the country and lived in Italy, Switzerland and France for its duration.
After the war, Nusic was appointed to be the first head of the Art Department of the Ministry of Education. He remained at this post until 1923. Afterwards, he was appointed head of Narodno pozorište (National Theater) in Sarajevo. In 1927, he returned to Belgrade.
[edit] Selected work
Some of the Nusic's major work (with English translation of titles):
[edit] Dramas
- Gospođa ministarka (Cabinet Minister's Wife)
- Narodni poslanik (Parliamentarian)
- Ožalošćena porodica (Bereaved Family)
- Pokojnik (The Deceased)
[edit] Novels
- Autobiografija (Autobiography)
- Opštinsko dete (County's child and published in Sarajevo as Općinsko dijete)
- Hajduci (Hajduks)
[edit] Short stories
- Politički protivnik (Political Rival)
- Posmrtno slovo (Eulogy)
- Klasa (Class)
[edit] Other
- Retorika (a discourse on rhetoric)
