prose

Slavenka Drakulić: Mileva Einstein, Theory of Sadness

Slavenka Drakulić is an accomplished author and columnist whose work is esteemed both in Croatia and abroad. Born in 1949 in Rijeka, she completed her studies in Comparative Literature and Sociology at the University of Zagreb. She has penned numerous novels, essays and short stories (numbering 18 books in total) and is a regular columnist for the high-circulation daily Croatian newspaper, Jutarnji List. The themes she covers in her work range from post-communist societies to war crimes to feminist issues. Her most recent works include: the collection of short stories, Nevidljive žene i druge priče (2018) (Invisible Women and Other Stories), the novel Mileva Einstein, teorija tuge (2017) (Mileva Einstein, Theory of Sadness), and the novel Dora i Minotaur: moj život s Picassom (2014) (Dora and the Minotaur: My Life with Picasso). Drakulić has won multiple awards in Croatia and abroad for her work. She is a contributing editor for The Nation (USA), her essays have appeared in publications such as the New York Times Magazine and she is a contributor to multiple international publications.


In her novel, Mileva Einstein, Theory of Sadness, Drakulić peers at the other side of genius. Taking a feminist perspective of one of the greatest minds of the 20th century, she looks at Albert Einstein throught the prism of his relationship with his first wife, the Serbian physicist, Mileva Marić, who gave up a potentially promising career in science to be his wife and mother to his children. This excerpt peeks into the undercurrent of a relationship, the part that isn't included in the public presentation of their lives, but is of the private sphere. Genius doesn't assume kindness, humanity, or equality.

Read an excerpt from Drakulić’s Mileva Einstein, Theory of Sadness in the link below.
Translation by Christina Pribićević Zorić.

Read it here