Biography of Danilo Kiš (1935–1989)
Danilo Kiš was a writer, translator, and one of the most celebrated literary figures of the 20th century in the region. Born in Subotica, he survived the Holocaust and completed his secondary education in Cetinje, Montenegro. He graduated from the University of Belgrade with a degree in Comparative Literature and Literary Theory.
Kiš worked as a writer, dramaturge at the Belgrade theater Atelier 212, and as a lecturer in Serbo-Croatian at several French universities. He wrote short stories, novels, essays, plays, and television scripts, and translated poetry from French and Hungarian.
His first works, Mansarda (The Mansard) and Psalm 44 (1962), were followed by the acclaimed novel Bašta, pepeo (Garden, Ashes, 1965/1978), in which he created a haunting portrait of his father, who perished in Auschwitz. He continued this autobiographical cycle with Rani jadi (Early Sorrows, 1968) and Peščanik (Hourglass, 1972), for which he received the NIN Award for Best Novel in Yugoslavia.
“It is hard to lift up your own misfortune, to be at once the viewer and the viewed /…/ To consider your own person in the light of eternity (read: in the light of death). To rise into the air. The world from a bird’s-eye view.” — Hourglass
A stylistic innovator and moral realist, Kiš faced political attacks after the publication of Grobnica za Borisa Davidoviča (A Tomb for Boris Davidovich, 1976), a collection of stories exposing Stalinist terror. In response, he published Čas anatomije (The Anatomy Lesson, 1978), a sharp polemic defending literary integrity and freedom.
Living later in Paris, Kiš wrote Enciklopedija mrtvih (The Encyclopedia of the Dead, 1983), one of his most celebrated works. He received numerous awards, including the Ivo Andrić Prize (1984) and the Bruno Schulz Prize (1989), and was named Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in France (1986). His works have been translated into many languages and continue to resonate worldwide for their moral depth, historical insight, and elegant prose.