His parents were Ana Vugrinec and Ivan Kovačić (1826–1906).[3][4] They were married in Marija Gorica.[5] Ivan was also called Janko and dreamed that Ante would become a priest.
In 1857, Ante and his parents went to Oplaznik.[6]
Later life
Kovačić began to write in 1875. While his early works have Romantic tendencies, in later years he was influenced by Realist literature. His stories and novels often had strong satiric overtones and represent harsh criticism to injustice in Croatian society of his time. One of his novels, Među žabari, remained unfinished because citizens of Karlovac protested after reading its first paragraphs in a local newspaper.
In his later years, Kovačić began to show symptoms of mental disorder which gradually affected his work, including the last chapters of U registraturi.
U registraturi, combining biting social satire, naturalist descriptions of Croatian bureaucracy and peasantry, as well as fascination with the supernatural inherited from Romanticism, nevertheless remained the most powerful 19th century Croatian novel and one of the most enduring novels in Croatian history. In 1974 it was adapted into popular television mini-series starring Rade Šerbedžija.[8]
Kovačić's wife was called Milka Hajdin,[14] with whom he had six children.[15] Ante and Milka were married in Mala Gorica. Their daughters Olga and Marija were teachers, while their son Krešimir was a journalist, who died in 1960.[16]