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Gospođa ministarka

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Sala u 4 cina.

143 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1929

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About the author

Branislav Nušić

202 books126 followers
Born Alkibijad Nuša (Aromanian: Alchiviadi al Nuşa) in Belgrade, Principality of Serbia to a well-off family, Nušić enjoyed the benefits of a privileged upbringing for only a brief time. His father Đorđe Nuša was a well known grain merchant of Cincar (Aromanian Vlach) origin who lost his wealth shortly after his son's birth and was forced to move the family to Smederevo where young Alkibijad attended elementary school and first two grades of boarding school. During his teens, Nuša moved back to Belgrade where he graduated from boarding school. Upon turning 18 years of age, he legally changed his name to Branislav Nušić. In 1884, he graduated from the University of Belgrade's Law School. During his studies, he also spent a year in Graz, Austria-Hungary.

Twenty-one-year-old Nušić fought in the Serbo-Bulgarian War of 1885 while serving in the Serbian Army. After the war, he published a controversial poem "Dva Raba" in Dnevni list for which he spent two years in prison. The poem ridiculed Serbian King Milan, namely his decision to attend the funeral of the Serbian-born Austro-Hungarian general Dragutin Franasović's mother instead of that of the war's hero, Captain Mihailo Katanić who died as a result of wounds sustained while saving the regimental flag from the hands of Bulgarians.

At first, Nušić's sentence was only two months, but the King pressured the judges to extend it. Despite harsh prison conditions, Nušić still managed to write a comedy: Protekcija (Protection).

When he first asked the prison intendant, Ilija Vlah, for the permission to write, Vlah told him that it was the writing that got him into prison, and denied his request. Knowing that intendant read all outgoing mail, Nušić wrote a brief letter to the second husband of his aunt (he was related to her first husband), who served as a minister of justice. Nušić addressed Gersic as uncle and told him how it would be much easier for him to serve 2 years if he could write. He noted that he had no interest in writing political texts, and signed the letter your nephew. One day later, Vlah allowed him to write literature.

In 1889, Nušić became a civil servant. As an official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs he was appointed to clerk of consulate in Bitola, where he eventually married (1893). He spent a decade in southern Serbia and Macedonia. His last post in this region was vice-consul in Pristina.[1]

In 1900, Nušić was appointed as a secretary of Ministry of Education, and shortly afterwards he became a head dramaturgist of the National Theatre in Belgrade. In 1904, he was appointed a head of Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad. In 1905, he left his new post and moved to Belgrade to work as a journalist.

In 1912, Nušić returned to Bitola as a civil servant. During Balkan Wars in February 1913, Nušić, who was the prefect, was regarded as too moderate, and replaced by someone more sympathetic with the views of the military party and of "the black hand."[2] In 1913, he founded a theater in Skopje, where he lived until 1915. Due to the World War I, Nušić fled the country and lived in Italy, Switzerland and France for its duration.

After the war, Nušić was appointed to be the first head of the Art Department of the Ministry of Education. He remained at this post until 1923. Afterwards, he was appointed head of Narodno pozorište (National Theater) in Sarajevo. In 1927, he returned to Belgrade.

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5 stars
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528 (32%)
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266 (16%)
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
Profile Image for 5rovsvet.
351 reviews54 followers
June 13, 2025
Nisam siguran da li postoji neko u Srbiji koji nije čuo za dramu Gospođa Ministarka. Obrađuje se u školama. Čak i da je nisu čitali, deluje mi nemoguće da neko nije čuo za nju ili da ne zna bar mrvicu šta se u njoj radi.

U poslednje vreme mnogo vozim auto i volim da slušam muziku. Ipak, ima dana kada mi nije baš do muzike ali mi um traži neku vrstu zabave i „društva“. Setio sam se bookmate aplikacije i da postoje audio knjige. Izbor je pao upravo na ovu dramu. A onda dok sam pisao tekst i čitao više o ovoj drami saznao sam da sam počeo da je čitam baš na godišnjicu kada je prvi put izvedena – 25. maja 1929. u Narodnom pozorištu u Beogradu.

Gospođa Ministarka je napisana pre stotinjak godina, a zanimljivo je što podjednako dobro govori i o društvu u današnjem vremenu. Možda bi ovu dramu najbolje opisala ona čuvena – Ko visoko leti nisko pada.

Živka je neko ko dobija priliku da se uzdigne u društvu zbog novog poslovnog položaja svog supruga. A kako to obično biva, kad se neko brzo uspenje, brzo i „poludi“, pa na kraju sam sebi obezbedi kartu za nazadovanje.

Ne bih se previše bavio analizom dela, jer smatram da su mnogi upoznati sa njim. Ali želim da istaknem da je u tome lepota književnosti – da nas podseti i osvesti ko smo, gde smo i kakvog smo mentaliteta. I da pazimo kako se ponašamo u određenim situacijama jer iako imamo najbolje želje za sebe, možemo sebi postati najveći neprijatelji. A najveći problem je u tome što možemo biti slepi na svoje greške, baš kao što je i Živka.

Ovaj roman me je podsetio na jednu knjigu koju sam čitao i koju toplo preporučujem ukoliko volite da se nasmejete sami sebi a i svima nama. U pitanju je knjiga Bojana Ljubenovića – Pisma iz Srbije.

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Profile Image for Tazitazitazi.
472 reviews28 followers
February 13, 2012
Ovu knjigu sam pročitala u osnovnoj školi i bila šokirana likom Ministrice. Da mi je danas ta naivnost! Da mi je danas ta sreća da takvi likovi postoje samo u knjigama, a ne svuda oko mene!
Profile Image for Realini Ionescu.
4,043 reviews19 followers
June 16, 2025
Doctor in Philosophy by Branislav Nusici – my previous note on this is at https://realini.blogspot.com/2015/02/... together with thousands of other reviews

7 out of 10


‘It's a mystery to me, the game commences/For the usual fee plus expenses’ this is the first line in the lyrics of Private Investigations by Dire Straits, and in this case the mystery refers to why on earth would I watch this again, when it was not such an exhilarating experience in the first place, but then it was airing last night

‘Happiness Activity No 3: Avoid Over thinking and Social Comparison- using strategies such as distraction to cut down on how often you dwell on your problems and compare yourself with others…’ this is from the marvelous The How of Happiness by Sonja Lyubomirsky https://realini.blogspot.com/2014/07/...
Ergo, let us emphasis the positive in doctor in Philosophy and say that it is a light comedy, it does include satire, it must have a happy end, let me put in a spoiler alert, not for the aforementioned reference to the end, but just in case, and overall, it does not offend new standards, not so much that I could observe right now

It is about a fraud, and hence I will make the connection with the Orange Jesus, the big Felon, who is favorite still to win the most powerful job in the world on November 4, a crook that has been convicted on 34 counts, he has been found to have cheated on his statements to banks, where he lied about his assets
Orange Felon has said his apartment was three times bigger than in reality, so that he could gain access to loans, while for taxes purposes, he would state he has so little – as president, he infamously paid around 700 dollars or so, anyway, less than people with menial jobs, and yet, the ‘law and order’ party worships him

Jivota Sviovici is a mini-Orange Jesus in Doctor in Philosophy, he is always trying to gain some advantage, maneuvering to get profits, corrupt people, he paid to have his son, useless, lazy Milorad Sviovici, graduate, and become a doctor, while this fellow had no skills for that, worse still, he never attended the classes
The potentate had a colleague of his son, Simo, travel to Switzerland from Belgrade and enroll at the faculty, take the diploma, while claiming to be Milorad, and this happens because in a corrupt society, they would just look at the superficial aspects, and if money is passed around, then a fake reaches the top

I repeat this mantra too much, but here it is - we have a fraudster near the top of the free world, where he has climbed once, in 2016, this scoundrel was known for not paying his bills, companies will provide services, put in windows say at his towers and then he would reject their requests to be paid, this is a vile ghoul
in the play, Jivota is trying to have his son – a sort of Don Jr or Eric – marry the daughter of the minister for transportation, because then he would have as part of the dowry, some ‘kilometers of railways’, not the whole TransBalkanic project, but a few hundred miles, and then bribe the matchmaker too, she wants something

the trouble is that they need to attract the attention somehow, and they thought a conference would do, only the incompetent Milorad has no clue, though the Doctor in Philosophy should be such an expert, so they have to call on Simo to write the material, and then have the moron read it, which he will do with great difficulty
to complicate matters more, they have two sets of news from Switzerland, a telegram saying a professor will visit, only he knows a different doctor than what we have in Belgarde, and then the wife will show with her son, which is more than a surprise, and we have it cleared by soft, helpless Simo who stayed in Switzerland for so long

while there, he was a lodger in a house, where the owner thought him a rich descendant, for he was playing the role of Milorad, so the host pushed her daughter and this tenant together, in the name of fortune hunting, and the result was a marriage and then a child, to be expected soon in Belgrade, where a storm will hit
how can they marry this foolish son, when he has already been through marital vows already, so Jivota Sviovici has to perform magic tricks, pay everyone to try and solve this, and even this master of deception is cornered, when he brings in false witnesses for instance, and he has to show two realities

the couple of ‘professional witnesses’ are somewhat funny, but also, they represent a malaise, justice systems were awful, they still have problems in these countries (mine included) though things have improved – an article in The Economist shows both Belgrade and Bucharest have climbed up the ranks recently
they were looking at the most livable cities, where Vienna tops the charts (I Do not see why, I have had some unfortunate experiences in Austria, they were very unfriendly, to use a euphemism) Copenhagen, and some cities in Switzerland, Zurich was one, and then with 75 of 100, my capital and home city was improving
there is an emotional twist in the play, but the message was one where you have fraudsters taking over, with fake diplomas, and then in the real world, you have that revolting Orange Jesus, such a nightmare and vile figure…


Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”


23 reviews2 followers
November 10, 2016
Živka Popović je prvovrstni literarni spomenik ženski neumnosti.
- ovo piše u jednoj od ocena Gospođe ministarke na ovom sajtu. Jedan pridev tu ogledalo je najproblematičnije osobine dela, zbog koje nisam mogao da uživam u njemu. Društvenim uslovima vremena kada je nastala neću da oslobađam Nušića odgovornosti, jer se ova drama igra i danas, jer o ovoj drami govorim sada, niti ću da pazim na uzvišeni umetnički status koji uživa, ne bih li onda nepovredio kakav duštveni moral ili neku drugu spoljnu, izmišljenu kategoriju. Ovu ocenu pišem sa svesnom željom da naudim Nušiću, srpskom društvu tog vremena, ali i srpskom (i širem) društvu danas.

Nakon razlaganja dela, ministarkinog i ostalih likova i dolaska do zaključaka o sastojcima Nušićevog genija koje mu neću negirati (ubaciti ovde komentar o simulakrumima, simulaciji, društvu spektakla itd.), ne mogu da prestanem da razmišljam o odzvanjanju prideva "ženski".

Taj pridev, osim u citiranoj oceni, odzvanja i kroz celo delo, a stoji uz neumnost, koja gotovo isključivo stoji uz ministarku i ostale ženske likove, dok su muškarci uglavnom prikazani sasvim drugačijim: lukavim, snalažljivim, oportunistima.

Tako, vreme ove drame prolazi: ona postaje arhaična, a njeno izvođenje anahronističko, makar u izvornom obliku.
Profile Image for Sladjana Kovacevic.
841 reviews20 followers
April 10, 2020
Quote:V A S A : A znaš li ti, prijatelju , da si time učinio najveći greh koji živ i čovek može učiniti. Ubiješ čoveka — naći ćeš u zakonu ma kakvu olakšavnu okolnost; opljačkaš crkvu — naći ćeš opet u zakonu kakvu olakšavnu
okolnost; upališ susedu kuću — i zato ćeš naći kakvu olakšavnu okolnost; ali — reći javno za jednu dobrodržeću taštu da je odvratna baba, e nem a toga zakona na kugli zemaljskoj u kome bi se za taj zločin mogla naći olakšavna okolnost." 😂
🇷🇸
🥣Ukus-kisele bombone
🎧Zvuk-grogotan smeh
💐Miris-opojan,težak parfem
🎨Boja-kičasta,šarena
🐙Dodir-golicanje
🎭Identifikacija(likovi)-Čeda,zet jedini se odupire ludilu
🤓🧙🏼‍♀️👻Vizija(san)-Vlast je slatka ali kratkotrajna
📝Ekstra-Nušić,majstor komike ✒Ocena🔟
🇺🇸
🥣Taste-sour candies
🎧Sound-Laughter 💐Smell-Intoxicating,heavy parfume
🎨Color-kitschy colorfull
🐙Touch-tickling
🎭Identification(caracters)-Son in law,the only one who resists the madness
🤓🧙🏼‍♀️👻Vision(dream)-Power is sweet but very short-term
📝Extra-Nušić,the master of comedy
✒grade🔟
Profile Image for Stefan Maras.
194 reviews9 followers
June 28, 2022
"[...] ja sam uzeo za fuku jednu dobru ženu i dobru domaćicu - gospoðu Živku Popović - izneo je naglo, neočekivano i iznenadno, iznad njene normalne linije života. Takav jedan poremećaj na terazijama života kadar je učiniti, kod ljudi iz male sredine, da izgube ravnotežu te da ne umeju da se drže na nogama. I eto, u tome ja sadržina "Gospoðe ministarke", u tome sva jednostavnost problema koji taj komad sadrži."
25 reviews
May 24, 2021
Odlično.

,,Ako nisam ministar, a ja sam ministarka, a upamti: to je, koji put, mnogo više."
Profile Image for Iva.
26 reviews
June 5, 2022
Živka girlbossed and slayed.
Profile Image for Elena Petrinec.
26 reviews10 followers
July 13, 2015
"I, eto, iz te takve sredine ja sam uzeo za ruku jednu dobru ženu i dobru domaćicu-gospođu Živku Popović i izneo je naglo,neočekivano i iznenadno,iznad njene normalne linije života.Takav jedan poremećaj na terazijama života kadar je učiniti, kod ljudi iz male sredine, da izgube ravnotežu i da ne umeji da se drže na nogama. I eto, u tome je sadržina Gospođe ministarke."
Profile Image for booksaremyworld.
74 reviews
October 18, 2021
Duhovito, ali meni ipak neubedljivo stivo. Smatram da je nacin pisanja izuzetno naporan, bar za moj ukus. Ipak, savetovala bih svima da procitaju ovaj roman, jer na duhovit nacin opisuje nase drustvo,njegove dobre, ali i lose strane.
Profile Image for Saša.
37 reviews13 followers
June 26, 2013
Brezčasno in genialno. Živka Popović je (skupaj z Mrs Bennet Jane Austen) prvovrstni literarni spomenik ženski neumnosti.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews

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