Sida Košutić (20 March 1902 – 13 May 1965) was a Croatian

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

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 (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...

literary critic A genre of arts criticism, 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 analysis of literature' ...

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (periodical), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the ...

lector Lector is Latin for one who reads, whether aloud or not. In modern languages it takes various forms, as either a development or a loan, such as , , and . It has various specialized uses. Academic The title ''lector'' may be applied to lecturers ...

, and

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

of ''Croatian Women's Journal.''Sida Košutić
entry in the

Croatian encyclopedia The ''Croatian Encyclopedia'' () is a Croatian general encyclopedia An encyclopedia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge, either general or special, in a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divid ...

. Access date 8 July 2019. She was one of the most important female figures of 20th century

Croatian literature Croatian literature refers to literary works attributed to the medieval and modern culture of the Croats, Croatia, and Croatian language, Croatian. Besides the modern language whose shape and orthography were standardized in the late 19th centu ...

.Sida Košutić
Review of her work by Stjepan Lice and Vladimir Lončarević in the radio talk-show "Duhovni profili" of

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. Available at hrt.radio.hr. Published 20 October 2017. Accessed 7 July 2019.

Life

Košutić was the sister of Croatian politician

August Košutić August Košutić (5 August 1893 – 12 November 1964) was a Croatian politician and a prominent member of the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS). As a member of the HSS, Košutić traveled through Europe and United States to inform the world public ab ...

. She graduated pedagogy at the

University of Zagreb The University of Zagreb (, ) is a public university, public research university in Zagreb, Croatia. It is the largest Croatian university and one of the oldest continuously operating universities in Europe. The University of Zagreb and the Unive ...

. She was editor-in-chief of ''Croatian Women's Journal'' (1939–1944) and lector in the Croatian Publishing Institute, ''

Vjesnik ''Vjesnik'' () was a Croatian state-owned daily newspaper published in Zagreb. Originally established in 1940 as a wartime illegal publication of the Communist Party of Croatia, it later built and maintained a reputation as Croatia's newspaper ...

'' and . As one of the founders of the

Croatian Writers' Association Croatian Writers' Association (; abbreviated DHK) is the official association of Croatian writers. It was founded in 1900 in Zagreb with the goal "to unite writers and help them support one another, and promote Croatian literature regardless of po ...

, Košutić's work was labeled as anti-governmental; after refusing to sign the

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...

verdict at the

show trial A show trial is a public trial in which the guilt (law), guilt or innocence of the defendant has already been determined. The purpose of holding a show trial is to present both accusation and verdict to the public, serving as an example and a d ...

directed against Cardinal Stepinac in 1946, she was fired from the Croatian Publishing Institute.

Work

Košutić was a lyricist, developing her fundamental idea of the aspiration of the human soul to

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

. Her poetry expressed Christian contemplative and

metaphysical Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of h ...

preoccupations, which is permeated with seeking a meaning in the mutual expression of love among men and God. Her best lyrical works come in form of the

prose poem Prose poetry is poetry written in prose form instead of verse form while otherwise deferring to poetic devices to make meaning. Characteristics Prose poetry is written as prose, without the line breaks associated with poetry. However, it make ...

(the dialogical collection of poems , 1927). Her patriotic poetry works are authentic and deprived of

pathos Pathos appeals to the emotions and ideals of the audience and elicits feelings that already reside in them. ''Pathos'' is a term most often used in rhetoric (in which it is considered one of the three modes of persuasion, alongside ethos and ...

. She wrote for numerous periodicals,Those periodicals include: ''Novi čovjek'' (1926-27), ''Hrvatska prosvjeta'' (1927 –30, 1933–35, 1937–39), ''Književnik'' (1929), ''Hrvatska straža'' (1930, 1933 1938), ''Za vjeru i dom'' (1930–33, 1944), ''Hrvatska smotra'' (1933, 1935–37, 1939), ''Obitelj'' (1933, 1938, 1944), ''Glasnik sv. Ante'' (1934–37), ''Omladina'' (1934 –35, 1937–38), ''Kalendar sv. Ante'' (1935–41, 1943), ''Hrvatska revija'' (1936–40;

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1951;

München Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

1968, 1975), ''Hrvatski dnevnik'' (1936–39), ''Kalendar Gospine krunice'' (1936), ''Danica'' (1938), ''Napredak'' (1938–39), ''Novi ženski list'' (1938–39), ''Morgenblatt'' (1939–40), ''Dom i svijet'' (1940), ''Hrvatski orač'' (1940), ''Hrvatska mladost'' (1943–44) and ''Glasnik bl. Nikole Tavelića'' (1944). Her works were posthumously published in literary revue ''Marulić'' (1982, 1992) and magazine ''Hrvatsko zagorje'' (1997, 2001). Source: Croatian Bibliographical Lexicon. including literary revues (, , ), Catholic and Croatian emigrant periodicals.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Košutić, Sida 1902 births 1965 deaths 20th-century Croatian women writers Croatian women journalists Croatian columnists Croatian women columnists Croatian literary critics Women literary critics Croatian women essayists Croatian women poets Croatian dramatists and playwrights Croatian women dramatists and playwrights Croatian novelists Croatian women novelists University of Zagreb alumni 20th-century Croatian journalists Burials at Mirogoj Cemetery Croatian Roman Catholics