While working as a writer and researcher in Belgrade, Kiš began publishing novels in the 1960s. However, in the 1970s he faced accusations of plagiarism in his novel "A Tomb for Boris Davidovich" which led to a defamation lawsuit. Rattled by the controversy, Kiš left Belgrade for Paris in 1979. He continued writing and achieving greater recognition abroad until his death from lung cancer in 1989 at the age of 54.
While working as a writer and researcher in Belgrade, Kiš began publishing novels in the 1960s. However, in the 1970s he faced accusations of plagiarism in his novel "A Tomb for Boris Davidovich" which led to a defamation lawsuit. Rattled by the controversy, Kiš left Belgrade for Paris in 1979. He continued writing and achieving greater recognition abroad until his death from lung cancer in 1989 at the age of 54.
While working as a writer and researcher in Belgrade, Kiš began publishing novels in the 1960s. However, in the 1970s he faced accusations of plagiarism in his novel "A Tomb for Boris Davidovich" which led to a defamation lawsuit. Rattled by the controversy, Kiš left Belgrade for Paris in 1979. He continued writing and achieving greater recognition abroad until his death from lung cancer in 1989 at the age of 54.
While working as a writer and researcher in Belgrade, Kiš began publishing novels in the 1960s. However, in the 1970s he faced accusations of plagiarism in his novel "A Tomb for Boris Davidovich" which led to a defamation lawsuit. Rattled by the controversy, Kiš left Belgrade for Paris in 1979. He continued writing and achieving greater recognition abroad until his death from lung cancer in 1989 at the age of 54.
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Career[edit]
While doing research at the University of Belgrade, Kiš was a
prominent writer for Vidici magazine, where he worked until 1960. In 1962 he published his first two novels, Mansarda (translated as The Garret) and Psalm 44.[15] He then took up a position as a lector at the University of Strasbourg. He held the position until 1973. In that period, he translated several French books into Serbo-Croatian. He also wrote and published Garden, Ashes (1965), Early Sorrows (1969), and Hourglass(1972). For his novel Peščanik (Hourglass), Kiš received the prestigious NIN Award, but returned it a few years later due to a political dispute.[16] Plagiarism controversy[edit] In 1976, A Tomb for Boris Davidovich was published. Kiš drew inspiration for the novel from his time as a lecturer at the University of Bordeaux. Kiš returned to Belgrade that year only to be hit by claims that he plagiarized portions of the novel from any number of authors. Critics also attacked the novel for its alleged Marxist themes. Kiš responded to the scandal by writing The Anatomy Lesson. In the book, he accused his critics of parroting nationalist opinions and of being anti-literary. Several of the people that Kiš criticized in The Anatomy Lesson sought retribution following its publication. In 1981, Dragan Jeremić, a professor of literature at the University of Belgrade and opponent of Kiš, published Narcissus without a Face in which he reasserted his claim that Kiš had plagiarized A Tomb for Boris Davidovich. Dragoljub Golubović, the journalist who published the first story accusing Kiš of plagiarism, sued Kiš for defamation. The case was eventually dismissed in March 1979, but not after it drew substantial attention from the public.[17] Move to Paris[edit] Rattled by the plagiarism controversy and subsequent defamation lawsuit, Kiš left Belgrade for Paris in the summer of 1979. In 1983 he published The Encyclopedia of the Dead. During this period in his life, Kiš achieved greater global recognition as his works were translated into several languages.[18] Death[edit]
After feeling weak for several months, Kiš was diagnosed with metastatic lung cancer in September 1989. He died a month later, on October 15, 1989. Kiš was 54 at the time of his death, the same age that his father had been when he was sent to Auschwitz.[19] Personal life[edit]
Kiš was married to Mirjana Miočinović from 1962 to 1981.[20] At the
time of his death, he was living with Pascale Delpech, his former student from the University of Bordeaux.[21]
