Peričić Denis: Ima jena vekša sila

Denis Peričić: There is a greater force

Bat and Hell on Earth, two modern Kajkavian miracles

DENIS PERIČIĆ (Varaždin, 1968) is a multi-awarded Croatian poet, prose, drama and scientific writer, essayist, columnist, critic, anthologist, translator, media expert, journalist and publicist, editor, proofreader, proofreader, publisher and screenwriter. His works have been included in about 20 anthology selections and translated into English, German, Spanish, Italian, Polish, Czech, Slovenian, Macedonian and Grado Croatian. He was a member of the expert commissions of many literary events. He is the author of about 50 scientific and professional papers

He is a professor of Croatian studies and South Slavic philology, master in literary sciences, and completed his doctoral studies in Croatian culture (Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zagreb). He trained in Vienna, Budapest and London (creative writing, telecommunications, literature, psychoanalysis and visual arts).
So far he has published around 30 authored (or co-authored) books. These are: the novels Croatian Psycho (AGM, Zagreb, 2004) and The Bat and Black People (VBZ, Zagreb, 2010); the plays Hell on Earth ("Marin Držić Award", Vall 042, Varaždin, 1999) and Netopir ("Sphere" Award, Vall 042, Varaždin, 1998), which were performed on Croatian Radio, and the first on stage (Art Academy in Osijek, then the Gllugl Theater) and on Croatian television, and Hyperboreal Horse (co-authored with Anita Peričić, "Marin Držić" Award, public reading at Marulić days 2015, publication in the book Marin Držić Award – Croatian drama 2014, Disput, Zagreb, 2016); collection of stories Bloody (Disput, Zagreb, 2004; Czech edition: Až na krev, translated by Josef Kodet, Altenberg, Jihlava, 2018), Ljubav, zlo i narapoko (Hena com, Zagreb, 2014, with 9 award-winning stories), Techno guest (Kajkavsko spraišče, Zagreb, 2016, with 14 award-winning stories), Tijelo od snova (Hena com, Zagreb, 2018, with 5 award-winning stories) and, in co-authorship with Anita Peričić, Prozamanterija (Hena com, Zagreb, 2019, with 6 award-winning stories), the collection of poems Nakraj svijeta ("Goranovo Spring Award", Varaždinske vijesti, Varaždin, 1995), The Tattooed Man(Katarina Patačić Award, Kajkavsko spraišče, Zagreb, 2000), Four Seasons (poetry-graphic map with graphics by Vjeran Miljenović, Usav, Varaždin, 1999) and Artificial lightning! / Fourth World War (own publication, Varaždin-Zagreb, two editions, 2007 and 2008), both with songs awarded at the "Dragutin Domjanić" Recital, then Christmas Songs (own publication, Varaždin, 2009), Nordic Knot (special praise of the jury of the "Drago Gervais" Award, Parthenon, Zlatar, 2014) and the joint collection of three authors, The Last Warm Night (with Evelina Rudan and Slađan Lipovec, Varaždin, 2002). 042, Varaždin, 1998, along with which he edited in separate volumes a reprint and transcription of Jakob Lovrenčić's book Petrica Kerempuh iliti Čini i živlenje manja prokšenogfrom 1834), and the monograph Fernando Consag – Textos y testimonios (with Carlos Lazcan; Fundacion Barca, Municipalidad de Varazdin, Museo de Historia de Ensenada, Seminario de Historia de Baja California, Ensenada, 2001) about the Varaždin missionary and researcher Ferdinand Konšćak, published only in Mexico, in Spanish; then a collection of columns and essays Croatian dream - From Vukovar to the stars? (own edition, Varaždin, 2011), essay book Varaždin postcards I and II (Vall 042, Varaždin, 1996/2003) and the anthologies With the old city ramparts – Selections from Croatian lyrics about Varaždin (Vall 042, Varaždin, 1996), Kerempuhova čitanka – Anthology of texts about Petrica Kerempuh from 1834 to 1999 (Vall 042, Varaždin, 2003) and Škrinjica – A small anthology of contemporary Croatian spiritual poetry (own publication, Varaždin, 2010). His novel April was published in the literary magazine Sirius B (No. 16, Zagreb, 2014). Together with the illustrator Tomislav Tomić, he published the picture book for adults Pustinjak (Knjiga u centru, Zagreb, 2019). Koprivnica, 2013) and Nikola Tesla's Visionary Thoughts (The Colorful Shop, Koprivnica, 2017, where he is also a translator from English) and he is one of the editors of the book Poetic Thoughts by Tino Ujević (The Colorful Shop, Koprivnica, 2018). Šicel, academician Ante Stamać, academician Krešimir Nemec, prof. Ph.D. Joža Skok, prof. Ph.D. Vinko Brešić, prof. Ph.D. Zvonimir Bartolić, prof. Ph.D. Sanja Nikčević, prof. Ph.D. Zvonko Kovač, Ph.D. Ivo Kalinski, Ph.D. Božica Pažur, Ph.D. Mario Kolar, Ph.D. Srećko Lipovčan, Ph.D. Boris Beck, M.Sc. sc. Ernest Fischer, M.Sc. sc. Ivan Kutnjak, M.Sc. sc. Ivan Zvonar, M.Sc. sc. Emilija Kovač, Strahimir Primorac, Jelena Gluhak, Davor Šišović, Jadranka Pintarić, Božidar Alajbegović, Nermina Husković, Borna Baletić, Petar Despinić, Vladimir Poljanec, Branko Čegec, Boris Perić, Nenad Bartolčić, Robert Perišić, Jagna Pogačnik, Gordan Nuhanović, Kruno Lokotar...
Represented in Croatian Literary Encyclopedia Lexicographic Institute "Miroslav Krleža".
His works were included in Miroslav Šicel's anthology selections Anthology of Croatian short stories(2001) and Croatian poets of Hrvatski Zagorje, Međimurje, Podravina (2004), Božice Pažur Small anthology of contemporary Kajkavian poetry (2001), Jože Skoka Rieči sa zviranjka: Anthology of modern Kajkavian lyrics of the 20th century(1999), Ruožnik rieči: Anthology of Croatian Kajkavian prose(1999) and Garestinski hortus verbi: Varaždinska knjizhevna hrestomatija (2012), Branko Čegec and Miroslav Mićanović's Dark sound of emptiness: Croatian poetry eighties and nineties (1995), Ante Stamać Lyrics of Great Friday (1998), Ivo Kalinski Contemporary Croatian Kajkavian (recital) poetry (1995/2003), Ivo Kutnjak Croatian mirror: Contemporary Kajkavian poets of the eighties (1999) and Izbor kajkavian poetry (2009), Tomislav Šakić and Aleksandar Žiljak's Ad astra: Anthology of Croatian Science Fiction Novels 1976-2006. (2006), Silvije Šesto Plimaši(1997), Ernest Fišer's Moderne kroatische kajkavische Lyrik (anthologische Auswahl, trans. Boris Perić) (2015), Josef Kodet Zázrak na ostrovi. Antologie chorvatské živské literatury (2011), Chris Firth's Contemporary writing from Bosnian and Croatian authors (2004) and others. He is a member of the Croatian Association of Independent Artists, Matica Hrvatska and other associations. He was the editor of literature in Vijenac. As an organizer or speaker, he participated in hundreds of literary forums and events. He was a participant in the European Short Story Festival, the Alternative Literature Festival, the European Meeting of Young Writers "Pontes", the Koljnof Literary Meetings, the "Faro(pi)s" Literature Festival, the "Sheep in a Box" Picture Book Festival in Pazin, and a number of other international literary festivals and events. He published in the periodicals Quorum, Kaj, Republika, Forum, Europski glasnik, Nov and Kamov, Nova Istra, Kolo, Dometi, Marulić, Plima, Gazophylacium, Literary Review, Godine, Sirius B, Vrijesak, Smotra/Rundschau, Most/The Bridge, Bejahad/Omanut, Panonnisches Jahrbuch/Pannonski yearbook, Gradišće, Ulaznica, Avlija, Roots, Encyclopaedia moderna, Riječ, Works of the Institute for Scientific Work in Varaždin, Works of the Croatian Society of Folklorists, Šoljan's collection, Croatian north, Hrvatsko zagorje, Croatian kajkavian calendar, Croatian letter, Wreath, Comma, State, Polet, Studentski list, Oko, Večernji list, Jutarnji list, Varaždin news, Regional weekly, Varaždin glasnik, Glas Slavonia, Varaždin yearbook, Varaždin literary anthology, Teacher, Rotary magazine, Pontes, Op. Striptiz, WH Fanzin... and in many Croatian and international anthologies.
In books, magazines, anthologies and newspapers he published a total of 3 novels, 3 plays, 3 monodramas, more than 100 stories, hundreds of poems, about 120 essays and afterwords, about 60 scientific papers, more than 500 columns, more than hundreds of literary and art criticisms, 4 comics (as screenwriter) and several thousand newspaper texts, and two dramas, two radio dramas and one television adaptation were performed.
The interesting part of his creativity is the examination of various language possibilities: he writes in the Štokavian standard, but also in Kajkavian, and depending on the topic and approach, he sometimes includes elements of Chakavian and Gradišćan Croatian and other languages. His prose and dramatic works could be characterized as a combination of reality, history, fantasy and transcendence, while his poetry is of the widest spectrum. He is a distinct postmodernist, which is reflected in a wide variety of citation-referential techniques.
As a member of the Working Group for the preparation of negotiations on the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union in chapter 10. Information society and media, he wrote and publicly presented a whole series of professional papers and documents at international conferences throughout Europe.
He translated books from English - all published by Šareni džuč from Koprivnica: Nick Cave's King Ink (2004) and The Death of Bunny Munro (2009), Quentin Tarantino's Ruthless Bastards (2010), Krista Novoselic Grunge and Citizens – Let's fix that broken democracy! (2012), Charles Webb's The Graduate (2013), Peter Ackroyd's The Man Who Didn't Laugh - A Biography of Edgar Allan Poe (2013) and Sun Tzu's War Thoughts (2014) and edited the book Presidential Thoughts by Abraham Lincoln (2013). He also translated Algernon Charles Swinburne's Poems and Ballads (Modernist, Varaždin, 2011). He also partially published translations of Walt Whitman, Herman Melville, Kurt Cobain and the Gibb brothers.
He is the author of forewords in editions of works by Samuel Beckett, Emily Brontë, Charles Bukowski, Philip K. Dick, Abraham Lincoln, Christopher Isherwood, Horace McCoy, Mihael Elizarov, Urmuz, George Orwell, Franz Kafka, Alix Christie, Jean-Marc Reiser, Jerome K. Jerome,
Hugo Ball... and many Croatian authors.
In addition to the book of the same name, in collaboration with the musician Budimir Muck, he also published an author's CD Christmas songs ("in the footsteps of Brodski"), and his songs were set to music by prominent composers of serious, jazz and rock music such as Nick Cave, Pero Gotovac, Siniša Leopold, Petar Eldan, Davor Bobić, Ivica Bađun, Stjepan Mikac... and they were performed by Tomislav Neralić, Josip Lešaja, Miroslav
Živković, Dalibor Paulik, Julia Warner, Hana Hegedušić and Lucija Oreški,
Barbara Rocco and the Varaždin jazz band, "Štigleci"...
He collaborated with Nick Cave, as participants to his literary workshop at the Schule für Dichtung in Vienna and performed together with him at the Akademietheater.
He has published and edited several CDs/DVDs on which he interprets the poems of the verbally disabled poet and friend Marko Lukić. He cooperates on a voluntary basis with the Society of Dystrophy, Cerebral Palsy and other Physically Disabled People of the City of Varaždin.
He has also designed a dozen covers of his own and other books. His books were illustrated by academicians Đuro Seder, Tomislav Tomić, Željko Prstec, Krešimir Hlebec, Vjeran Miljenović, Marijan Kocijan... and with photographs by Srećko Lebinec and others.
He worked as a journalist-editor, public official, translator and manager of public relations and marketing director. Since 2012, by decision of the Minister of Culture, he has been an independent artist - professional writer.
For 10 years already, he has been publishing his unique column in Regionalni tjednik every week (already about 500 times) - and it is unique because it has no title! The author's name in itself is a brand of readership, and the readership is
enormous. This column is often provocative, but its proven goal is to develop a culture of dialogue and reflection in a democratic society.
Awards:
For plays, stories, poems, essays, criticism and travelogues, he received 85 literary awards and many different recognitions.
The awards are: two state awards "Marin Držić" for the best dramatic text, two awards "Passionska baština", then "Goran's Spring", "Katarina Patačić", "Stanislav Preprek", "Zlatko Tomičić", "Dr. Ivan Šreter", "Dubravko Horvatić", "Kritico i", two "Sfera" awards, three awards for the best Croatian travelogue, the international award "Lapis Histriae", the international award "Ulaznica", the international award "Bejahad", the international award "Avlija", the international award "Petrarca Festa", the award of the international association CARP, the international award at the competition of the Federation of Jewish Municipalities of Serbia, award of the HKD of St. Jeronima for a poem, an award at the competition of the Jewish municipality of Virovitica for an essay on "Auschwitz, 70 years since liberation", international awards for essays about Danilo Kiš and Rada Drainac, two international awards at the competitions of the Bosnian cultural community Novi Pazar, an award from the magazine Parsek, nine awards from the Contemporary Kajkavian Poetry Exhibition "Dragutin Domjanić" in St. Ivan Zelina, eleven awards from the Kajkavian Spravist and the magazine Kaj for a Kajkavian story, seven "Meeting words" awards in Bedekovčina, five awards from the "Stjepan Kranjčić" Meeting of Croatian Spiritual Literary Creativity in Križevci, four awards from the "Varaždin u srcu nosim" Recital, four awards from the Radio Ludbreg competition, two international awards from the European Meeting of Young Writers "Pontes", two awards from the Museum of Angels for short story, award at the KK Bilogorski Rangers contest, awards at the short story contests of the Samobor City Library, Makarska City Library, Trogir City Library and Kvaka magazine, award for a patriotic essay by the Glina Library and Reading Room and the "Josip Ozimec" recital award in Bistrica.
He received special praise at the "My Dear Heart" (twice), "Drago Gervais" and Matica Hrvatska Osijek competitions. As a finalist, he was included in the shortlist of the competitions "Fran Galović" (three times), "Slavko Kolar", "Vranac", "West Herzegovina Festival" and many others.
He is the winner of the Medal of the City of Varaždin in 2014 for the highest merits in culture and art as well as outstanding results and special successes in literary work. He is the winner of the Varaždin County Award in 2017 for exceptional achievements in the past one-year period - for the successful thirtieth anniversary of rich literary creativity and for numerous and prestigious awards, as well as merits in culture and art.
For the past five years, he has been writing successfully in collaboration with his wife Anita Peričić, and some of these successes have been achieved together.