Robert Perišić

Robert Perišić (born 1969 in Split, Croatia) is a Croatian writer. His books are considered as authentic portrayals of society in transformation and its (anti)heroes.

Perišić graduated in Literature and Croatian language from the University of Zagreb. Since the beginning of the 1990s he has written poetry, short stories, plays, as well as literary reviews in various distinguished Croatian magazines such as Feral Tribune and Globus. His novel Our Man in Iraq (Naš čovjek na terenu) was the bestselling novel of 2008 in Croatia and has been published in numerous European countries and USA. From 1992 to 2000 Perišić was editor-in-chief of the cultural magazines Godine and Godine nove. Perišić currently lives and works in Zagreb.

Our Man in Iraq

Our Man in Iraq is a social novel. The main characters of the novel are the young newspaper editor and his cousin who reports from Iraq war 2003. The novel presents some typical characters and situations of today's life in post-communist countries torn by political and social confusion and it also gives specific view to war by connecting experiences from Balkan and Iraq war. New type of society in Eastern Europe, globalisation, media life, rapid social changes and its influences on human relationships – these are the subjects of Our Man in Iraq, all wrapped in pervading humor and irony.

Our Man in Iraq was the bestseller in Croatia and received the prestigious Jutarnji list newspaper prize for the best prose in 2007. The book was also published in English by Istros Books a house based in London in June 2012. Perišić's novel has also been awarded with Literaturpreis der Steiermärkischen Sparkasse 2011 in Graz, Austria. With the title Our Man in Iraq it was published in the United States in April 2013. It got excellent reviews in the US, and was praised by the likes of The New Yorker, NPR’s “All Things Considered,” and The Guardian, as well as by writers such as Johnathan Franzen.

No-Signal Area

No-Signal Area, Perišić's second novel, follows two entrepreneurs as they renovate a turbine factory in a remote Croatian town. Upon its release, the novel received excellent critical response in Croatia and neighboring countries and was shortlisted for several major literary awards. The US edition, translated by Ellen Elias-Bursać, will be published in April 2020 by Seven Stories Press.

Short stories

Perišić’s short stories with counter-culture temper and vivid characters gave him initial reputation and audience in Croatia and ex-Yugoslavia countries, especially among younger readers. His first collection of twenty short stories You Can Spit On The One Who’ll Ask For Us (Možeš pljunuti onoga tko bude pitao za nas), published 1999, was considered as rebellious at the post-war time and it get lot of publicity as a voice of desperate young generation.

Horror and Huge Expenses (Užas i veliki troškovi), collection of twenty stories published in 2002, was acclaimed by critics and lately considered as one of the most important Croatian book of the decade. In this book Perišić gives an authentic, somewhat tragicomic picture where the post-war society meets consumer society. In this book the author also unconventionally focuses on romantic relationships. His short story "No God in Susedgrad" ("Nema boga u Susedgradu") gave the name to a collection of contemporary Croatian writers published in German in 2008 by Schöffling & Co (Kein Gott in Susedgrad). Two of his short stories are included in the anthology of East-European short stories Pensi che ci saremmo potuti conoscere in un bar? (Carivan edizione, Roma, 2010).

Poetry

Perišić’s book Castle America (Dvorac Amerika) is a collection of poetry published in 1995. The title Caste America combines two Kafka’s novels and book is a kind of poetry view on global Kafkian Castle. His second poetry book Sometime Later (Jednom kasnije) was published in 2012.

Movies and Theatre

His black comedy Culture in Suburb (Kultura u predgrađu) was performed in the City Drama Theatre "Gavella" in Zagreb as part of the program for the seasons 2000-2002. Perišić signed the screenplay for the movie 100 Minutes of Glory (100 minuta Slave, 2004), directed by Dalibor Matanić It is a dark, romantic drama based on the life of a deaf female painter, Slava Raškaj.

Perišić has also played two small roles as an actor in two short films – it’s interesting that both of them were invited to Cannes film festival: Suša (Dryness) was presented at the Quinzaine des Realisateurs, Festival de Cannes 2003, and Tulum (Party) was presented at the Semaine de la Critique, Festival de Cannes 2009.