Slavenka Drakulić’s Followers (715)

Slavenka Drakulić

Born

in Rijeka, Croatia

July 04, 1949

Died

June 20, 2026

Website

http://slavenkadrakulic.com/

Genre

Literature & Fiction, Nonfiction

Influences

Marguerite Duras ...more

edit data

Slavenka Drakulić (1949–2026) was a Croatian journalist, novelist and essayist whose works on feminism, communism and post-communism have been translated into many languages.

In her fiction Drakulić has touched on a variety of topics, such as dealing with illness and fear of death in Holograms of fear; the destructive power of sexual desire in Marble skin; an unconventional relationship in The taste of a man; cruelty of war and rape victims in S. A Novel About the Balkans (made into a feature film As If I Am Not There, directed by Juanita Wilson); a fictionalized life of Frida Kahlo in Frida's bed. In her novel Optužena (English translation forthcoming), Drakulić writes about the not often addressed topic of child abuse by her own mother. In Slavenka Drakulić (1949–2026) was a Croatian journalist, novelist and essayist whose works on feminism, communism and post-communism have been translated into many languages.

In her fiction Drakulić has touched on a variety of topics, such as dealing with illness and fear of death in Holograms of fear; the destructive power of sexual desire in Marble skin; an unconventional relationship in The taste of a man; cruelty of war and rape victims in S. A Novel About the Balkans (made into a feature film As If I Am Not There, directed by Juanita Wilson); a fictionalized life of Frida Kahlo in Frida's bed. In her novel Optužena (English translation forthcoming), Drakulić writes about the not often addressed topic of child abuse by her own mother. In her novel Dora i Minotaur Drakulic writes about Dora Maar and her turbulent relationship to Pablo Picasso, and how it affected Dora's intellectual identity. In her last novel Mileva Einstein, teorija tuge she writes about Einstein's wife Mileva Maric. The novel is written from Mileva's point of view, especially describing how motherhood and financial and emotional dependence on Einstein took her away from science and professional life.

Drakulić has also published eight non-fiction books. Her main interests in non-fiction include the political and ideological situation in post-communist countries, war crimes, nationalism, feminist issues, illness, and the female body. In How We Survived Communism; Balkan Express; Café Europa she deals with everyday life in communist and post-communist countries. In 2021, Drakulic wrote a sequel to Café Europa, Café Europa Revisited: How to Survive Post-Communism. Drakulic wrote the history of communism through the perspective of animals in A Guided Tour Through the Museum of Communism. She explores evil in ordinary people and choices they make in They Would Never Hurt a Fly War Criminals On Trial In The Hague, about the people who committed crimes during the Croatian Homeland war. On the other side, in Flesh of her flesh (available in English only as an e-book) Drakulić writes about the ultimate good – people who decide to donate their own kidney to a person they have never met. Her first book, Deadly sins of feminism (1984) is available in Croatian only: Smrtni grijesi feminizma.

Drakulić was a contributing editor in The Nation (USA) and a freelance author whose essays have appeared in The New Republic, The New York Times Magazine and The New York Review Of Books. She contributed to Süddeutsche Zeitung (Germany), Internazionale (Italy), Dagens Nyheter (Sweden), The Guardian (UK), Eurozine and other newspapers and magazines.

Slavenka Drakulić is the recipient of the 2004 Leipzig Book-fair ”Award for European Understanding.” At the Gathering of International Writers in Prague in 2010 she was proclaimed as one of the most influential European writers of our time. ...more

Combine Editions
Slavenka Drakulić’s books

Average rating: 4.07 · 23,936 ratings · 3,154 reviews · 39 distinct works • Similar authors

	How We Survived Communism and Even Laughed 4.14 avg rating — 5,783 ratings — published 1991 — 27 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	S. 4.35 avg rating — 3,008 ratings — published 1999 — 47 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Café Europa: Life After Communism 3.95 avg rating — 3,212 ratings — published 1996 — 25 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	They Would Never Hurt a Fly: War Criminals on Trial in The Hague 4.22 avg rating — 2,490 ratings — published 2003 — 41 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Frida's Bed 3.91 avg rating — 1,910 ratings — published 2007 — 30 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Dora i Minotaur: Moj život s Picassom 4.19 avg rating — 1,295 ratings — published 2015 — 21 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Mileva Einstein, teorija tuge 3.90 avg rating — 1,067 ratings — published 2016 — 15 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Balkan Express: Fragments from the Other Side of War 3.99 avg rating — 833 ratings — published 1992 — 26 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Guided Tour Through the Museum of Communism 3.57 avg rating — 774 ratings — published 2009 — 20 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Café Europa Revisited: How to Survive Post-Communism 3.81 avg rating — 717 ratings — published 2021 — 10 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Slavenka Drakulić…

Quotes by Slavenka Drakulić (?)

“I realize that I only have words and that, from time to time, as I hold them in my arms I am less lonely.”
― Slavenka Drakulić, How We Survived Communism and Even Laughed

30 likes

“She wonders what else she will have to give up and what is the minimum of things with which one can survive without losing the feeling that one is human?”
― Slavenka Drakulić, S.

19 likes

“What do people think of when they talk about their lives? Do they really see them as an integral whole, as a chronological sequence of events; as something logical, purposeful, completed? What moments do they remember, and how do they remember them? As words? As a series of images and sounds? My life crumbles into a series of pictures, unconnected scenes which comes to mind only occassionally and at random. But there are key events, the acts of chance or fate, which later enable me to construct a logical whole of my life. One such moment was meeting Jose. The other was my decision to see our love through to the very end.”
― Slavenka Drakulić, The Taste of a Man

10 likes

See all Slavenka Drakulić's quotes »

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
The Seasonal Read...: Fall Challenge 2011 Completed Tasks - DO NOT DELETE ANY POSTS IN THIS TOPIC!	2251	797	Nov 30, 2011 09:05PM
Knjigom u glavu: Šta biste preporučili strancu zainteresovanom za jugoslovensku književnost?	24	196	Aug 29, 2012 11:11AM
The Next Best Boo...: The Title Game	20218	14622	May 30, 2013 12:53PM
Around the World ...: Dina - trekker 2012	71	165	Jun 22, 2013 09:27AM
Boxall's 1001 Bo...: Which LIST book did you just start?	6803	8461	Jul 17, 2013 10:16AM
Boxall's 1001 Bo...: 1001 Books With More Than One English Title	59	482	Mar 03, 2014 11:46AM

More…