Ivo Brnčić or Brnčič (13 March 1912 – May 1943) was a Yugoslav author,

essayist An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...

and

literary critic Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. Th ...

Croat The Croats (; hr, Hrvati ) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share a common Croatian ancestry, culture, history and language. They are also a recognized minority in a number of neighboring countries, namely Austria, the Czech Republic, Ge ...

origin, particularly notable for his assessment of interwar

Slovene literature Slovene literature is the literature written in Slovene. It spans across all literary genres with historically the Slovene historical fiction as the most widespread Slovene fiction genre. The Romantic 19th-century epic poetry written by the le ...

. Most of his works were published posthumously.

Biography

Brnčić was born in the village of

Sveta Trojica v Slovenskih Goricah Sveta Trojica v Slovenskih Goricah (; sl, Sveta Trojica v Slovenskih goricah) is a settlement in northeastern Slovenia. It is the seat of the Municipality of Sveta Trojica v Slovenskih Goricah. It lies in the Slovene Hills (). The area is part o ...

Lower Styria Styria ( sl, Štajerska), also Slovenian Styria (''Slovenska Štajerska'') or Lower Styria (''Spodnja Štajerska''; german: Untersteiermark), is a traditional region in northeastern Slovenia, comprising the southern third of the former Duchy o ...

, then part of the

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

. His father was an Austrian public servant from

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

. His mother came from a notable Slovene

left wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

intellectual family: her brother was the writer Lojz Kraigher, and Ivo Brnčić's cousins were the

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

politicians Boris and

Sergej Kraigher Sergej Kraigher (30 May 1914 – 17 January 2001) was a Yugoslav communist politician from Slovenia who served as the President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia from 1981 to 1982. During World War II, he fought in the Yugoslav Resistance Mo ...

. After finishing the high school in

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...

, Brnčić enrolled at the

University of Ljubljana The University of Ljubljana ( sl, Univerza v Ljubljani, , la, Universitas Labacensis), often referred to as UL, is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. It has approximately 39,000 enrolled students. History Beginnings Although certain ...

, later switching to the

University of Zagreb The University of Zagreb ( hr, Sveučilište u Zagrebu, ; la, Universitas Studiorum Zagrabiensis) is the largest Croatian university and the oldest continuously operating university in the area covering Central Europe south of Vienna and all of ...

, where he studied Slavic philology. Because of his openly

Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

convictions, he could not find a job for a long time. He made his living mostly from writing and translating. In 1940, he got employed as a professor in an elementary school in

Drniš Drniš is a town in Croatia, located in inland Dalmatia, about halfway between Šibenik and Knin. History The name Drniš was mentioned for the first time in a contract dated March 8, 1494. However, there are traces of older Middle Ages' fortr ...

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

(then also part of the

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 unt ...

). During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he was mobilized in the Croatian Home Guard. In 1942 he tried to escape and join the

Yugoslav Partisans The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Slovene: , or the National Liberation Army, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska (NOV), Народноослободилачка војска (НОВ); mk, Народноослобод ...

. He was captured and imprisoned in

Zenica Zenica ( ; ; ) is a city in Bosnia and Herzegovina and an administrative and economic center of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina's Zenica-Doboj Canton. It is located in the Bosna (river), Bosna river valley, about north of Sarajevo. Th ...

, but was later acquitted of charges of desertion and mobilized again into the armed forces of the

Independent State of Croatia The Independent State of Croatia ( sh, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH; german: Unabhängiger Staat Kroatien; it, Stato indipendente di Croazia) was a World War II-era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist It ...

. In May 1943, Brnčić escaped for the second time, but before he could join the Partisans he was captured by the

Chetniks The Chetniks ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, Четници, Četnici, ; sl, Četniki), formally the Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army, and also the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland and the Ravna Gora Movement, was a Yugoslav royalist and Serbian nationa ...

, who killed him and buried in an unknown location.

Work and legacy

Brnčić wrote several lyrical poems, short stories and theatre plays, but he is most known for his works in literary criticism and essayism. He became known mostly for his articles in journals, but he didn't publish a single book during his lifetime. Only in the 1950s, the literary historians Herbert Grün and

Janko Kos Janko Kos (born 9 March 1931) is a Slovenian literary historian, theoretician, and critic. He was born in Ljubljana in what was then the Kingdom of Yugoslavia as the son of the painter and sculptor Tine Kos. His father was a liberal and freet ...

edited his collected works. The first volume, which included his essays and critiques, was published in 1954 under the title ''A Generation in front of the Closed Doors'' ( sl, Generacija pred zaprtimi vrati). This expression, used in one of his earlier essays from the 1930s, became a popular and widespread designation of the generation of

Slovenian authors in the 1930s and early 1940s who embraced a lyrical version of neorealism (notably

Ciril Kosmač Ciril Kosmač (28 September 1910 – 28 January 1980) was a Slovenian novelist and screenwriter. Life He was born in a Slovene family in the village of Slap ob Idrijci near Sveta Lucija (now Most na Soči), in what was then the Austro-Hung ...

Miško Kranjec Miško Kranjec () ( hu, Krányecz Mihály) (September 15, 1908 – June 8, 1983), born Mihael Kranjec, was a Slovene writer. Kranjec was born in the village of Velika Polana in what was then the Zala County of the Kingdom of Hungary in the Aus ...

Ludvik Mrzel Ludvik Mrzel (pen name Frigid) (28 July 1904 – 29 September 1971) was a Slovene writer, poet, dissident and journalist. Early life and prewar career Ludvik Mrzel was born on 28 July 1904 in Loka pri Zidanem Mostu, Slovenia. After completing el ...

Karel Destovnik Kajuh Karel Destovnik, pen name and nom de guerre Kajuh (Slovene convention: ''Karel Destovnik – Kajuh'', 13 December 1922 – 22 February 1944) was a Slovenian poet, translator, resistance fighter, and Yugoslav people's hero. Life and work Kajuh ...

and others). Since the publication of his collected works in the 1950s, Brnčić has been frequently considered as the foremost theorist of the

social realist Social realism is the term used for work produced by painters, printmakers, photographers, writers and filmmakers that aims to draw attention to the real socio-political conditions of the working class as a means to critique the power structure ...

and neorealist literary movements in Slovenia in the 1930s. His name has been strongly linked to the critical Marxist intellectual scene in the interwar period. Together with the left liberal

Josip Vidmar Josip Vidmar (October 14, 1895 – April 11, 1992) was a notable Slovenian literary critic, essayist, and politician. From 1944 to 1946 he was speaker of the Slovenian People's Liberation Council (Slovenian Parliament). From 1952 to 1976 was pre ...

and the Catholic

France Vodnik France Vodnik (1903–1986) was a Slovenian literary critic, essayist, translator and poet from Ljubljana. He was mostly active in the interwar period, when Slovenia was part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. He was the younger brother of the poet and ...

, Brnčić was considered as the foremost Slovene literary critic of the 1930s.

References

*Janko Kos, ''Slovenska književnost'' (Ljubljana : Cankarjeva založba, 1982), 38-39. {{DEFAULTSORT:Brncic, Ivo 1912 births 1943 deaths People from Ormož Yugoslav Marxist writers Yugoslav essayists Croatian Home Guard personnel Yugoslav poets Yugoslav literary critics University of Ljubljana alumni Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb alumni People killed by Chetniks during World War II Yugoslav civilians killed in World War II Ethnic Slovene people Slovenian people of Croatian descent People from the Municipality of Sveta Trojica v Slovenskih Goricah 20th-century essayists Croatian people of Slovenian descent Deserters

Biography

Work and legacy

See also

References