Petar Kočić (1877-1916)
Birthplace:
Stričići, Ottoman Empire [now Bosnia and Herzegovina]
Born:
June 29, 1877
Died:
August 27, 1916
Petar Kočić (1877–1916) was a Bosnian Serb writer, activist and politician, best known for his acclaimed short stories. Born in Bosnia in the final days of Ottoman rule, Kočić began writing around the turn of the twentieth century; first poetry and then prose. While a university student, he became politically active and began agitating for freedom of press and assembly, as well as agrarian reforms within Bosnia and Herzegovina, which had been occupied by Austria-Hungary following the Ottomans' withdrawal. Kočić published his first collection of short stories, S planine i ispod planine (From the Mountain and Below the Mountain), in 1902. Between 1902 and 1905, Kočić published three volumes of short stories, all under the same title, S planine i ispod planine. Notable among these was Jazavac pred sudom (The Badger on Trial), in which a farmer attempts to sue a badger for eating his crops. Kočić subsequently adapted the story into a one-act play. It premiered at Belgrade's National Theatre on 26 November 1905. Noted for his fiery temperament and sharp wit, which he frequently deployed against the Austro-Hungarian authorities, Kočić's works not only influenced an entire generation of Bosnian intellectuals, such as the future Nobel laureate Ivo Andrić, but also the Serbian and Yugoslav nationalist movements, as well as the Bosnian autonomist and Yugoslav communist movements. Numerous streets in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia carry his name and his likeness has appeared on Bosnian 100 KM banknotes since 1998.