"Aurora" brought Štedimlija, Đilas, Zogović to Podgorica...

The book and the city are the two most important concepts that have made our culture. In a certain way, it's the same with cities as with love, you don't have to and you can't explain that love, said Balša Brković during last night's presentation of the novel "Aurora" at the Bar Chronicle.

Professor of literature and literary critic Dr. Gordana Leković pointed out that "Aurora" is the fourth novel from the so-called of the Podgorica cycle, adding that in the structure of Brković's works, two deep meanings, two symbols are recognized - the book and the city.

"I believe that these are the two most important terms that have made our culture. In a certain way, it's the same with cities as with love, you don't have to and can't explain that love. Love not because of something, but love in spite of everything. Some cities we love because we chose them, and some in a much more complex way, with a love that did not have the appearance of love, but you discovered some things by exploring both yourself and the space, so the chronotope of my new novel is Podgorica, but not today's current one, but Podgorica in 1932. "

Brković says that the constant moment of research was interesting.

"From whether there was public lighting at that time to the answer to the question of where were the fields where Budućnost and Balšić played the city derby. This is a novel with different intentions and different ambitions than the previous ones. Here you go into the past where you can meet and some historical figures".

The main narrative moment is the establishment of a chess club in Podgorica. The author chose that year because there is an urban myth that Tin Ujević stayed in Nikšić for three weeks to two months (it is not known) in 1932 with an interesting person Nikša Kokolj.

"I wanted to bring Ujević to the official opening of the chess club in Podgorica, where he would read his poem "Russia". This was important to me because a quarter of the characters in the novel are Russians - white Russians from Podgorica at the time. You couldn't play chess without them." , states Brković, adding that another fact related to 1932.

"I spent the summer of 1979 in Žabljak with mine and Radovan Zogović's family. My brother and I listened with interest to the great stories of the bright and lively old man. As a smart geek, I asked him when he saw Titograd for the first time. He corrected me, told me that Titograd was called Podgorica and that it happened in 1932 and that he was wandering around Podgorica because he was supposed to meet Štedimlija. It remained somewhere in my mind when I started planning with "Aurora" in 2013 and I realized that it was an ideal opportunity to bring Štedimlija, Zogović and his brother from his aunt Milovan Đilas to Podgorica in 1932, since the three of them represented three poles of Montenegrin leftist thought in the XNUMXth century, which evolved in different directions. Metropolitan Dožić also appears there, and I had the desire to bring Bor Kostić, one of the most famous chess players in the world. Given that he often stayed in Dubrovnik, it was not difficult for me to bring him to the opening, to play the first game in the life of that chess club. My Montenegrins, of course, immediately attacked Bora to prove that, like Kostić, he is a Montenegrin by origin."

The moderator reminded that in the novel there is a sentence "chess unites everything", as well as that it is older than all empires known today, and is the key to solving social problems. "Everything is according to the law, and you have endless space to express your individuality."

"Chess is a game with clear rules. Every result is clean. On the stage is a consciousness that turns into a kind of political equivalent, a political state where people can see the same thing and claim to see aib, day and night something insane. It is Bora Kostić who says at one point that it is very unusual that an ancient game can serve as a method of modernizing a society. It's a chess phenomenon," said Brković.

Brković also emphasizes that each of the book's fifteen chapters is conceived as an episode of a TV series with a precise change of frames and characters. In order to achieve narrative dynamics, he places the city derby Budućnost-Balšić in one chapter, the funeral of an old colonel in another, there is also a marathon race, the first in the history of Podgorica, a lake cruise, a visit to Shkodër...

"The genre of the novel can be defined as social, family with elements of the detective genre, and it can also be feminist, because it is also about solving the women's issue. As far as the name "Aurora" is concerned, it was chosen in a democratic way from among the three proposed as the one that "catch to the ears the most", according to the moderator.