Oskar Davičo
| Oskar Davičo | |
|---|---|
| Native name | Serbian Cyrillic: Оскар Давичо |
| Born |
January 18, 1909 Šabac, Kingdom of Serbia |
| Died | September 30, 1989 (aged 80) Belgrade, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia |
| Occupation | novelist, poet |
| Language | Serbo-Croatian |
| Nationality | Serbian |
| Citizenship | Yugoslav |
| Alma mater | University of Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy |
| Notable awards |
NIN Award 1956 Beton i svici 1963 Gladi 1964 Tajne |
Oskar Davičo (Serbian Cyrillic: Оскар Давичо; 1909—1989) was a distinguished Serbian and Yugoslavian novelist and poet. A leading literary figure of his generation, he was one of the most acclaimed Serbian surrealist writers, but also a revolutionary socialist activist and a politician. Davičo was awarded prestigious literary NIN Award a record three times.
Oskar Davičo was born on 18 January 1909 in Šabac to a Jewish family. His father was an atheist Jewish accountant and a socialist. During the World War I in Serbia, Šabac was the scene of heavy fighting, so the whole family moved temporarily to Negotin.
Davičo finished the elementary school and lower gymnasium Šabac, and then continued his education at the First Belgrade Gymnasium in Belgrade. Davičo started to write poetry while in gymnasium. He was expelled from the gymnasium in 6th grade for criticizing religion in a self-published magazine. He later graduated as a part-time student in 1926. After that, he left for Paris and enrolled at the University of Paris, studying romance studies. In Paris he worked as a waiter, courier, shoe maker, boxing trainer, and a paid companion of wealthy women. While in Paris, Davičo attended meetings of the Communist Party of France. He left the university without passing a single exam. After two years in France, he returned to Belgrade in 1928 and enrolled at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy studying French language and French literature. He graduated in 1930 cum laude. Soon after graduation, he found employment as a French language teacher in a high school in Šibenik. He was fired after only three months on the job, and then got a part-time job as a teacher at the First Belgrade Gymnasium, the same school he was expelled from in 1925. In 1931 Davičo got a full-time job as a high school teacher in Bihać. While in Bihać, he secretly founded the local committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (CPY). Communist activity was illegal in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia after 1920. Davičo was arrested on 31 May 1932 after being betrayed by one of the members of the CPY, and the court sentenced him to five years in prison. He served his sentence at Lepoglava prison and Sremska Mitrovica prison. While incarcerated, he wrote a novel titled "Detinjstvo" (Childhood), but did not finish it. The manuscript was lost during his transfer from Lepoglava to Sremska Mitrovica in 1935. After his release, he lived in Belgrade and worked as a co-editor of a magazine called "Naša stvarnost" (Our Reality).
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