On the second evening of the sixth literary festival "Cyrillic" on the Square between the churches in Budva's Old Town, last night a guest appearance by the Serbian writer and poet Milovan Danojlić was arranged.
At the very beginning of the program, Danojlić was ceremoniously presented with the Festival's award - Sveti Stefan Štiljanović's Charter. The charter was established in 2017, and the jury consisting of president Radomir Uljarević, Mila Baljević and Zelidrag Nikčević decided that Mr. Danojlić would be this year's winner.
In explaining the award, President Uljarević reminded that a quarter of a century ago Milovan Danojić was a guest at this same place and that it was then the cultural event of the year in Montenegro.
"History repeats itself and I think that this evening is also the cultural event of the year in Montenegro, because Milovan Danojlić is one of the greatest Serbian writers of all time, and probably the greatest living Serbian poet. Milovan Danojlić, eavesdropper of eternal events, as he himself he says for himself, he is a writer with a rich oeuvre, multi-talented, accomplished in various literary genres, in all kinds of genres, not only as a poet, but also as a prose writer, essayist, translator, publicist, always having two perspectives, the native one and the one that is caused by leaving his hometown, since he lives in Poitiers and in his hometown," Uljarević said.
As he pointed out, Danojlić entered literature with verses, but his poetic experience and handwriting are visible in prose, essays, and articles, full of surrealistic humor, satire, and irony.
"He also writes for children, with a clear awareness of the so-called naive poem. The books 'One Century of Children's Literature' and 'Discourse on Naive Poetry' are among the most important discussions on poetics in Serbian literature. By singing about nature, the poet addresses various forms of naive consciousness. His books, including the prose books 'How Dobrislav ran through Yugoslavia' and 'Dear Petrović' were translated and published abroad with great success. His five-decade diary of reading and interpreting poetry and portraying poets was published under the title 'Poets'. Danojlić translated Baudelaire, Claudel, Pound, Yeats, Brodsky, Sioran and other great poets, philosophers and thinkers. He also translated a large number of books that are at the top of the world's children's literature. Milovan Danojlić constantly takes care of the people and culture to which he belongs, about the fate of peoples and languages, literature, about spiritual heritage, but all this with full dedication and readiness to understand himself in order to understand the world around him, in continuous confrontation with himself and with that world," said Uljarević, noting that the author, in his voluminous work, through his care, points us to full responsibility for our opinion, and that his entire opus is a guide to how we ourselves can become eavesdroppers of eternal events.
Mr. Danojlić was presented with the Charter and the medal by the President of the Council for Culture of the Municipality of Budva, Dr. Predrag Zenović.
"I had the honor to present this important award, which is named after the famous Paštrović who lived at the beginning of the 16th century, the despot Stefan Štiljanović, a man who in a way has already become a classic. In this sense, my pleasure is great. Welcome to Budva and it will be a pleasure for us to hear something about your poetry and prose," Zenović said.
Author Danojlić thanked for the honor and the attention shown.
"It is not usual for poets to be awarded awards whose patrons, at least spiritual ones, are knights, fighters for human dignity, for truth and for freedom. And then, when you think a little more seriously, the sword and the pen have been fighting the same battle on two fronts for centuries, and faith in a higher meaning of existence is a common virtue of both poets and saints. Stefan Štiljanović, born at the end of the 15th century, through the twilight of our centuries-old destiny, shines to this day as a role model, as a support in the twilight. There were those indicators, crossroads, builders signposts in all ages, there are and always will be. And yet they exist to remind us that the highest human goal and the highest duty is to put a stop to tyranny," said Danojlić.
Speaking about Danojlić's work, writer and literary critic Zelidrag Nikčević pointed out that the author combined his high gift with the best and, unfortunately, increasingly rare virtues of his people, with hard work, perseverance, selflessness, strictness towards himself in the craft and in the much wider, more selfless one. , in a spiritual and church sense.
"A lyricist of high poetic self-awareness, with a belief in the unity of being and words, which can be convinced by every reader or listener of his poetry, he also addressed history in longer forms, gloomily suggesting a vision of its repetition, and he always had a heart and the right words for children, and for poets, and for the sensitive. And if he had done nothing else than the translations of great men from all over the world, which he domesticated in the Serbian language, he would have permanently indebted our culture and connected it with the world's lyrical, prose, essayistic and philosophical peaks." he pointed out.
Quoting the author himself, who says in one place that in view of our sad everyday life, he took refuge on the other side of the continent, and that he has no answers to the burning questions of the epoch, Nikčević assessed that in Danojlić's poetry, Serbia is present in all topics.
"It is a space of knowledge and self-knowledge, a medium of the secrets of heaven and earth. Serbia is seen in the hidden rhythm of its natural phenomena, showers, lightning, dew, southern winds, midnight and dawn. Through it, it also reveals the laws of history, the amplitudes of human falls and rises, energy , pity, resignation, defiance, pain. And all this in the noble handwriting of one who, as I say, "started as a mere ignoramus, trained for a long time in understanding life and literary art and improved myself over the years". And he improved and refined and us. It may not be visible at first glance, it may not be heard in our squares, in the hustle and bustle of accounting and banking, or in our screaming media, but lest we forget, the culture and vitality of the community owes a lot to the quiet wise literary figures who renew its meaning, to great people like Mr. Milovan Danojlić, and that's why we thank him," Nikčević concluded.
Poet Milovan Danojlić spoke the verses of many of his songs in front of the audience in Budva, including "Ballad of Grass", "My Homeland", "Psalm", "Demonstrations", "Why does the old wolf frown". He also donated his book "Velika pijaca: Poems for serious children and non-serious adults" to the Budva National Library.
Danojlić was born in 1937 in Ivanovci near Ljig. From the end of the fifties until today, he published over 70 books of fiction and poetry in the Serbian language. He has lived in France since 1984, where he worked as a lecturer at the University of Poitiers, and was also engaged as an associate of French radio. As a high school student, he wrote articles for the newspaper "Republika", and was a contributor to "Politika", "Borba" and "NIN".
He has been a member of the Serbian Academy of Science and Art since 2000. The program of the sixth "Ćirilicom" festival, organized by the Budva National Library and the Association of Publishers and Booksellers of Montenegro, will continue tonight at 21 pm with the guest appearance of the writer Vladimir Kecmanović. Professor Goran Radonjić will speak about his work. The "Ćirilica" festival lasts until September 6.
Bonus video:
