Dubravka Ugrešic
Encyclopedia
Dubravka Ugrešić dǔbraːʋka ǔgre̞ʃit͡ɕ (born 27 March 1949) is a Croatian
writer who lives in the Netherlands
.
, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia., She studied Comparative Literature and Russian Language and Literature at the University of Zagreb
, pursuing parallel careers as a scholar of the humanities and as a writer.
and culture
. It follows a young typist named Steffie Speck, whose name was taken from a Dear Abby
column, as she searches for love, both parodying and being compelled by the kitsch
y elements of romance. Ugrešić called the novel her "biggest literary achievement... because of the way in which the hero of the novel defeats its author." The novel was an immediate success and made into a 1984 movie U raljama života directed by Rajko Grlić
.
Ugrešić's writing has been described as accessible, intelligent, innovative
and politically and emotion
ally charged. She calls her highly referential style "patchwork." In her view,
Ugrešić lives in Amsterdam
as a freelance writer. She occasionally teaches at American and European Universities and writes for some European newspapers and literary journals.
In the former Yugoslavia she was awarded the NIN Prize
in 1988 for Forsiranje romana reke, being the first female writer (out of four in total) to win this prize since it was established in 1954.
Other regional awards are the Meša Selimović
award, the K.Š. Gjalski award, etc.
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
writer who lives in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
.
Background and education
Ugrešić was born in 1949 in KutinaKutina
Kutina is a small city in central Croatia, the largest settlement in the hilly region of Moslavina, in the Sisak-Moslavina county. The town proper has a population of 14,814 , while the total municipality population is 22,815....
, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia., She studied Comparative Literature and Russian Language and Literature at the University of Zagreb
University of Zagreb
The University of Zagreb is the biggest Croatian university and the oldest continuously operating university in the area covering Central Europe south of Vienna and all of Southeastern Europe...
, pursuing parallel careers as a scholar of the humanities and as a writer.
Writing
Her best-known novel in former Yugoslavia was Štefica Cvek u raljama života (Steffie in the Jaws of Life), an ironic postmodernist novel freely playing with clichés and stereotypes of trivial literatureLiterature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
and culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
. It follows a young typist named Steffie Speck, whose name was taken from a Dear Abby
Dear Abby
Dear Abby is the name of the advice column founded in 1956 by Pauline Phillips under the pen name Abigail Van Buren and carried on today by her daughter, Jeanne Phillips, who now owns the legal rights to the pen name....
column, as she searches for love, both parodying and being compelled by the kitsch
Kitsch
Kitsch is a form of art that is considered an inferior, tasteless copy of an extant style of art or a worthless imitation of art of recognized value. The concept is associated with the deliberate use of elements that may be thought of as cultural icons while making cheap mass-produced objects that...
y elements of romance. Ugrešić called the novel her "biggest literary achievement... because of the way in which the hero of the novel defeats its author." The novel was an immediate success and made into a 1984 movie U raljama života directed by Rajko Grlić
Rajko Grlic
Rajko Grlić is Yugoslav film director and producer from Croatia of Jewish and Serbian decent...
.
Ugrešić's writing has been described as accessible, intelligent, innovative
Innovation
Innovation is the creation of better or more effective products, processes, technologies, or ideas that are accepted by markets, governments, and society...
and politically and emotion
Emotion
Emotion is a complex psychophysiological experience of an individual's state of mind as interacting with biochemical and environmental influences. In humans, emotion fundamentally involves "physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience." Emotion is associated with mood,...
ally charged. She calls her highly referential style "patchwork." In her view,
...great literary pieces are great because, among other things, they are in permanent polemics with their readers, some of whom are writers, and who are able to themselves express creatively their sense of this literary affair. Great literary pieces have that specific magical quality of provoking readers to rewrite them, to make a new literary project out of them. That could be the BorgesianJorge Luis BorgesJorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo , known as Jorge Luis Borges , was an Argentine writer, essayist, poet and translator born in Buenos Aires. In 1914 his family moved to Switzerland where he attended school, receiving his baccalauréat from the Collège de Genève in 1918. The family...
idea that each book should have its counterpart, but also a Modernist idea of literature which is in constant dialogue with its literary, historical past.
Politics and exile
In 1989, Ugrešić joined the Association for a Democratic Yugoslav Initiative. After the outbreak of the war in 1991 in former Yugoslavia, Ugrešić took a firm anti-war and anti-nationalistic stand. She wrote critically about nationalism, the stupidity and criminality of war, and soon became a target of state controled media. She was proclaimed a “traitor”, a “public enemy” and a “witch”. She left Croatia in 1993 after a series of public media attacks.Ugrešić lives in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
as a freelance writer. She occasionally teaches at American and European Universities and writes for some European newspapers and literary journals.
Awards
Ugresic has received several literary awards and international recognition for her writing.In the former Yugoslavia she was awarded the NIN Prize
NIN Prize
The NIN Prize is a Serbian literary award established in 1954 by NIN magazine and is an given annually for the best newly published novel in Serbian literature . The award is presented every year in January by a jury of writers...
in 1988 for Forsiranje romana reke, being the first female writer (out of four in total) to win this prize since it was established in 1954.
Other regional awards are the Meša Selimović
Meša Selimovic
Mehmed "Meša" Selimović was a Yugoslav writer. His novel Death and the Dervish is one of the most important literary works in post-war Yugoslavia. Some of the main themes in his works are relations between individual and authority, life and death, and other existential problems...
award, the K.Š. Gjalski award, etc.
International Literary Awards
- 2010 Tiptree Award for Baba Yaga Laid an Egg
- 2006 Short listed for Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. UK.
- 2004 Premio Feronia – Citta di Fiano. Italy.
- 2000 Heinrich Mann Preis (Heinrich Mann PrizeHeinrich Mann PrizeThe Heinrich Mann Prize is a literary award given annually by the Berlin Academy of Art . The prize given for works with socially critical aspects in a character that would honor Heinrich Mann...
). Akademie Der Kunste Berlin. Germany. - 1999 Osterreichischen Staatspreis fur Europaische Literatur 1998 (Austrian State Prize for European LiteratureAustrian State Prize for European LiteratureThe Austrian State Prize for European Literature , also known as the European Literary Award , is a literary prize in Austria awarded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Art to European writers...
). Vienna, Austria. - 1998 SWF-Bestenliste Literaturpreis (Sud-West-Funk Bestlist Literary Award). Germany.
- 1997 Versetsprijs 1997, Stichting Kunstenaarsverzet 1942–1945 (Artists in Resistance Prize). Netherlands.
- 1996 Prix Europeen de l’ Essai Charles Veillon (Annual prize for the best European book of essays). Switzerland.
External links
- Official Homepage
- Dubravka Ugrešić at the complete reviewComplete reviewcomplete review is a literary website founded in March 1999. It is best known for reviews of novels in English translation, in particular drawing attention to otherwise neglected contemporary works from around the world, but there are also reviews of classics, non-fiction, drama and poetry...
- Dubravka Ugrešić interview by Svetlana BoymSvetlana BoymSvetlana Boym is the Curt Hugo Reisinger Professor of Slavic and Comparative Literatures at Harvard University, and a media artist, playwright and novelist. She is also an associate of the Graduate School of Design and Architecture at Harvard University. Much of her current work is focused on...
in BOMB MagazineBomb MagazineBOMB is a quarterly magazine edited by artists and writers. It is composed, primarily, of interviews between creative people working in a variety of disciplines — visual art, literature, music, film, theater and architecture....
, 2002 - Ugrešić at Open Letter Books