Martin Kukučín

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Martin Kukučín (own name Matej Bencúr, * 17 May 1860 Jasenová, † 21 May 1928 Pakrac, Croatia) was Slovak prose writer, dramatist and publicist. He was the most notable representative of Slovak literary realism, and considered to be one of the founders of modern Slovak prose.

1 Biography
2 Works
- 2.1 Prose
- 2.2 Drama
3 External links

[edit] Biography

He was born into a peasant family, the son of Ján Bencúr Juriš and his wife Zuzana, née Pašková, and had two brothers and one sister. He was educated at the Slovak grammar school in Revúca, Martin, Banská Bystrica, Kežmarok and finished his education in Sopron. Although he wanted to study at the theological faculty in Bratislava, due to the anti-Slovak atmosphere prevailing at that time, he chose to study medicine in Prague instead.

After graduating and completing his internship in Bratislava, Innsbruck and Vienna, he unsuccessfully attempted to find employment in Slovakia. He began instead to work as a doctor in 1893 in the village of Selca on the island Brač in Croatia, where he was also an active member of cultural society "Hrvatski Sastanak". In 1904, he became one of this society's directors. In 1896-1897, he tried unsuccesfully to return to Slovakia.

In 1904, he married Perica Didolić, with whom he left in 1908 to the South America, where they settled in Punta Arenas, Chile, where there was a large community of Croatian emigres. During the years 1922-1924, he lived again in Slovakia (Czechoslovakia at that time), then moved to Croatia in 1924-1925, briefly returning to Chile in 1925 to resolve property disputes. In 1926, he finally settled in Lipik, a spa town in Yugoslavia, where he died in 1928. Temporarily buried in Zagreb, he was interred in the National Cemetery in Martin in October 1928.