Lazar Komarčić (
Serbian Cyrillic
The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet ( sr, / , ) is a variation of the Cyrillic script used to write the Serbian language, updated in 1818 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić. It is one of the two alphabets used to write standard modern Serbian, th ...
: Лазар Комарчић; 9 January 1839 – 9 January 1909) was a Serbian pioneer science-fiction writer who today has a wide influence on the literary
avant-garde
The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...
and on
surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...
. He was a novelist, playwright and best known for his profound influence on what was to become later the literary genres of
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
and
crime novels. He was the most widely read author during the second half of the nineteenth and the turn of the century, according to literary critic
Jovan Skerlić. Unfortunately, science fiction and crime novel writing at the beginning of the 20th century was not considered a literary pursuit and as time passed he was forgotten until the 1970s when his works were revived. He was a contemporary of
Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...
,
Camille Flammarion
Nicolas Camille Flammarion FRAS (; 26 February 1842 – 3 June 1925) was a French astronomer and author. He was a prolific author of more than fifty titles, including popular science works about astronomy, several notable early science fiction ...
, and
H. G. Wells
Herbert George Wells["Wells, H. G."]
Revised 18 May 2015. ''Pljevlja
Pljevlja ( srp, Пљевља, ) is a town and the center of Pljevlja Municipality located in the northern part of Montenegro. The town lies at an altitude of . In the Middle Ages, Pljevlja had been a crossroad of the important commercial roads and ...
, Montenegro (then part of the Ottoman Empire), on the ninth of January 1839, to Milenko and Spasenija Komorica of Gornja Maoca in northeastern Bosnia
Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...
. Turks killed Lazar's uncle and Milenko (Lazar's father) took revenge. He was captured and imprisoned in Pljevlja. After Milenko escaped, he took his wife and children and moved with kin in Valjevo. It was at this time that the family changed their surname to Komarčić. In Valjevo Lazar started school, but his parents soon both died. He moved to Belgrade where he studied at the Grandes écoles Grandes may refer to:
* Agustín Muñoz Grandes, Spanish general and politician
*Banksia ser. Grandes, a series of plant species native to Australia
* Grandes y San Martín, a municipality located in the province of Ávila, Castile and León, Spain ...
( University of Belgrade).
A defining incident of Komarčić's life was the Turkish bombardment of Belgrade in 1862 that left him without three fingers. An incident erupted at ''Čukur česma'' (Čukur Fountain) when Savo Petković, a teenager, who was trying to get water at the fountain was shot and killed by a Turkish soldier which infuriated the citizens of Belgrade and erupted into a major conflict between Serbs and Turkish occupying forces. Belgrade was then bombarded from Kalemegdan. During that bombardment by Turkish artillery from Kalimegdan fortress, Komarčić at twenty-three held his ground together with the rest of Serbian insurgents. A Turkish grenade exploded near him causing him to lose three fingers on his right hand. What became known as the Čukur Fountain
The Čukur Fountain ( sr, Чукур чесма/Čukur česma) is a monument built to commemorate the Čukur Fountain incident of 15 June 1862, starting with the death of a boy -- Savo Petković -- and growing into a conflict between Serbia and t ...
conflict brought the intervention of the European Powers and the Turks were soon expelled from Belgrade.
After receiving that wound Komarčić decided to go into teaching, and from this time onwards he made writing his principal work.
To help out his sister, he went to Crna Bara to buy and take over her business. After three or four years as a tavern keeper, he returned to Belgrade and began his literary career by contributing articles to a local journal, "Srbija." He also wrote for "Zbor." Eight of his novels were published at a time when Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...
, Camille Flammarion
Nicolas Camille Flammarion FRAS (; 26 February 1842 – 3 June 1925) was a French astronomer and author. He was a prolific author of more than fifty titles, including popular science works about astronomy, several notable early science fiction ...
, and H. G. Wells
Herbert George Wells["Wells, H. G."]
Revised 18 May 2015. ''Svetozar Marković
Svetozar Marković ( sr-Cyrl, Светозар Марковић, ; 9 September 1846 – 26 February 1875) was a Serbian political activist, literary critic and socialist philosopher. He developed an activistic anthropological philosophy w ...
. In 1875 he became an editor of "Zbor", and worked with varying success to bring about the revision of the sentences passed on the so-called socialists.
Komarčić descriptive powers were of the highest order, and his style, pure of all affectations and embellishments, is of singular force and suppleness. With all his limitations, he was as original a genius as Serbia produced during the turn of the century.
He died at Belgrade on the ninth of January 1909.
Works
Lazar Komarčić position in Serbian literature is unique. There was nothing like his type of novel before his time. Komarčić wrote in 1902 the first modern Serbian science fiction novel "''Jedna ugašena zvezda''" (One Extinguished Star), and in collaboration with Dragutin Ilić, a drama entitled "''Posle milijon godina''" (A Million Years From Now, 1888). Interestingly, the first science fiction drama on this planet was performed in Belgrade and published in the magazine ''Kolo'' in 1889. Both the novel and the drama are now considered the foundation of Serbian science fiction literature, with occult influences.
Also, Komarčić wrote such popular novels as:
* "''Dragocena ogrlica''" (An Expensive Necklace) in 1880,
* "''Dva Amaneta''" in 1893,
* "''Prosioci''" (Beggars, 1905),
* "''Jedan razoren um: i Zapisnik jednog pokojnika''" (1908),
* "''Mučenici za slobodu''",
* "''Pretci i potomci: istorijske slike iz postanja danasnje Srbije''" (1905),
* "''Bezdušnici''" (Heartless Men, novel).
Legacy
His contribution to the genre as a writer, along with the novelists Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...
and