Ivan Kušan

Croatian writer and translator (Sarajevo, August 30, 1933 – Zagreb, November 20, 2012). Completed painting studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. He worked as an editor of literature and fine arts in Telegram, editor of literature at Radio Zagreb, Smib and Modra lasta libraries, Most magazine and HIT junior library. Year In 1997, he received the "Vladimir Nazor" Award for Lifetime Achievement. Since 2002, he has been a regular member of HAZU. He was also a lecturer at the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb. He appeared in literature with the novel for young people Uzbuna na zeleno vrhu (1956), in which the boy Koko appeared as the main character, which marked the cycle of the latter novels, and made Kušan one of the few local authors of detection successes for young people (Koko i ghosts, 1958 ; The Enigmatic Boy, 1963; Koko in Paris, 1972; the collection of short stories The Terrible Cowboy, 1982; Love or Death, 1987; Koko in Knin, 1996). He also achieved exceptional success with the novels Homework (1960) and Lažeš, Melita (1965). As a prose writer for adults, he is a member of the circle generation. After the collection of short stories A Moment Ahead (1957), the novels Razapet izmenje (1958) and Walled by Walls (1960), in which he showed a penchant for psychologizing and even bizarre themes, he published prose with satirical and political themes (the novel Tower, 1970; the novels Veliki dan, 1970) and erotic subtext (erotic travelogue Prerušeni prosjak, 1986, and conceptual "overwriting" of erotic places skipped in the works of world writers, 100 najješte rupas, 1992). In many of his proses, the tendency to persiflage, parody and travesty comes to the fore. Kušan is also the author of the first Croatian humorous historical novel, Medvedgradski golubovi (1995), and he dedicated the book Zubalo na ošita (2001) to his own struggle with illness and the (mal)functioning of Croatian healthcare. He also published plays, in which he demonstrates dramaturgical skill, criticism of society, but also a preference for "people's" theater, comedy and entertainment (Monument to Demosthenes, 1969; Tower, adaptation of the novel, 1971; Purpose of Freedom, 1971; Čaruga, 1976, etc.). Some of his most popular novels for children were also adapted and performed in the theater (Koko in Paris, 1979; Lažeš, Melita, 1995). His plays were also published in the book Purpose from Freedom (1995). He also wrote screenplays, radio and television dramas and series, essays and reviews, and translated from Russian, English and French.