Branislav Nušić

Born in Belgrade in 1864, Branislav Nušić became one of Serbia’s most celebrated playwrights, as well as a satirist, novelist, essayist, journalist, and civil servant. He wrote under the name Branislav Nušić, though he was born Alkibiјad Nuša, and he is widely remembered for bringing a fresh, comic energy to Serbian literature.

Nušić’s most famous works are his comedies, which gently but clearly expose hypocrisy, bureaucracy, greed, and social pretension. Plays such as A Suspicious Person, The Cabinet Minister’s Wife, The Bereaved Family, A Member of Parliament, and The Deceased made him a classic of the stage, loved for humor that is both entertaining and uncomfortably accurate.

Beyond theater, he also worked in journalism and public service, and is often described as an important figure in the development of modern rhetoric in Serbia. He died in 1938, but his writing has remained popular because his eye for human weakness was so keen—and so funny.