Biography of Daša Drndić (1946–2018)
Daša Drndić was a distinguished writer, translator, and university professor. She earned her degree in English language and literature from the University of Belgrade, and later completed graduate studies in dramaturgy at Southern Illinois University in the United States. In the 1990s, she left Belgrade and settled in Rijeka, Croatia, where she obtained her Ph.D. in philosophy and became a professor in the English Department, teaching courses on modern British literature, Anglo-American modern drama, and creative writing.
Between 1995 and 1997, Drndić lived in Canada before returning to Croatia, where she published Marija Częstohowska još uvijek roni suze ili Umiranje u Torontu (Maria Częstohowska Still Shedding Tears or Dying in Toronto, 1997) and Canzone di Guerra (1998). Both novels explore themes of migration, displacement, and the fragile nature of identity, as well as the tension between old and new worlds.
Her internationally acclaimed novel Belladonna (2012) centers on Andreas Ban, a retired psychologist and writer living alone on the Croatian coast. Aging and ailing, Ban sifts through fragments of his life—his memories, medical files, books, and the ruins of history—reflecting on the Second World War, the dissolution of Yugoslavia, and the erosion of personal and collective memory. Drndić’s writing blends historical reflection with unflinching irony and moral clarity.
Across thirteen novels, many of which have been translated into English, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Hungarian, Polish, Slovenian, Finnish, Albanian, and Macedonian Daša examined how history—especially its silences—shapes human lives. Her recurring motifs include the repetition of historical trauma, the persistence of memory, and the way private and collective histories intertwine.
“Memories die as soon as they are plucked from their surroundings; they burst, lose color, lose suppleness, stiffen like corpses. The past is riddled with holes. Souvenirs can’t help here. Everything must be thrown away. Everything. And perhaps everyone as well.”
— Belladonna