Kosta Abrašević or Kosta Abraš ( sr-cyr, Коста Абрашевић; 29 May 1879 – 20 January 1898) was a Serbian poet, progenitor of proletarian poetry in Serbian literature.

Life

Kosta Hristić was born in

Ohrid Ohrid ( ) is a city in North Macedonia and is the seat of the Ohrid Municipality. It is the largest city on Lake Ohrid and the eighth-largest city in the country, with the municipality recording a population of over 42,000 inhabitants as of ...

in the

Manastir Vilayet The Vilayet of Manastir () was a first-level administrative division (vilayet) of the Ottoman Empire, created in 1874, dissolved in 1877 and re-established in 1879. The vilayet was occupied during the First Balkan War in 1912 and divided between t ...

of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

(in present-day

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

) on 29 May 1879 to a poor merchant family. His father, Naum Hristić, was

Serb The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history, and language. They primarily live in Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia ...

and his mother Sotira was

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

. After finishing three years in a Greek school in Ohrid, he continued his schooling at a gymnasium (high school) in

Šabac Šabac ( sr-Cyrl, Шабац, ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative centre of the Mačva District in western Serbia. The traditional centre of the fertile Mačva region, Šabac is located on the right banks of the river ...

, where he started using the patronymic of his father's nickname "Abraš" as a surname. Early on in his life he came in contact with

Socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

ideas, and founded a political-writer group in Šabac, which published magazines ''Omirov venac'' and ''Grbonja''. In his poetry social ideas are prevalent. This could be seen in his poem ''Red'', where the expression "Ruby-red" is associated with blood and "Mighty veins," "lighting" and "dark eyes" all showed the inevitable triumph of the workers and the crushing defeat of tyrants (Turks). He translated German Socialist poets. His original poems are found in socialist magazines after his death, and his collection, which had seen many editions, was printed by high school and college student groups in 1903. His works are translated into Russian, Hungarian, Albanian and Romanian, also some of his works are interpreted by composers such as S. Anđelić and M. Živković. He died in Šabac on 20 January 1898 from

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

at the age of 18. Today many cultural and artistic societies throughout Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina carry his name. He remains a forgotten figure in Serbian poetry, although many critics consider his poems to be significant for the poetic emergence in the ranks of the former Yugoslav proletariat. The poems of Kosta Abrasević reflect strong dissatisfaction and rebellion against the then-position of the dominant and privileged class—the Turk—and thus are paradoxically and prematurely identified as proletarian and socialist. Kosta Abrasević died too young to make a significant mark in literature.

References

Sources

* 1879 births 1898 deaths People from Ohrid People from Manastir vilayet Serbian male poets Serbian people of Greek descent Serbs of North Macedonia 19th-century Serbian poets People from the Kingdom of Serbia Serbian writers Emigrants from the Ottoman Empire Immigrants to the Kingdom of Serbia {{Serbia-poet-stub