"Aurora" by Balša Brković: A novel of love for the city, Podgorica in myth and reality

It is a rarity and a real curiosity that the promotion of any book takes place in a place that is important for its plot and various other layers, so much so that that place can be considered a separate character. The novel "Aurora" experienced this Balša Brković and at the first presentation in Podgorica - in the yard of Kuslev's house.

The promotion of the novel "Aurora" was actually an unusual evening, full of spirit and charm, in a relaxed, friendly atmosphere created and then dispersed by a well-coordinated team from the study of world literature in Belgrade: Bozo Koprivica, Balša Brković i Andro Martinović. Each in its own way enhanced the evening and revealed something more about "Aurora", which was presented as part of the International Alternative Theater Festival FIAT 2023.

This very authenticity and recognition of Podgorica - Kuslev's house of unique, thoughtful and refined architecture is exactly the starting point of many of Brković's ideas, he reveals, visibly pleased that "Aurora" is being talked about right there.

"There is hardly any book that has been promoted in a place that is literally the place where the action takes place. This house is literally one of the impulses that started me in the whole planning, construction and the like, because I had the need to imagine the man who built this house and his sense of civic. This house was made for a family home, and I realized that this is where I should place my main character, the engineer Nester, who is trying to organize that chess club and coordinate all the affairs with the Russians, and so from the beginning this house is actually a real character in my novel," he says.

Those present in the audience on a windy Saturday evening could easily imagine or sense some of the events, conversations or views that take place in that very space.

"Promotion here as I look at these walls and terraces where the action takes place, the living room where the meeting is held to decide on the formation of the club, Nester plays chess with his wife in the evening on the terrace looking towards the Turkish bath. And of course then I had to move on, from this house started my Podgorica which exists in 'Aurora' and there is no more natural place to talk than that", said Brković.

Speaking about the novel, Martinović says that there is a play of genres.

"You can read it as a family novel, a social chronicle, a novel with political and criminal elements, but above all that, it is a novel of love for the city," he stated, and Koprivica also agrees:

"Balša is indebted to Podgorica, of course, but now, after this novel, Podgorica is also indebted to him. This novel belongs to the ten best novels written in Yugoslavia in the last ten years because it has that traditional style, but many modern procedures, from documentary fiction to humor," he emphasized.

Aleksandar Bečanović in the presentation of the book it is written that Podgorica is between myth and reality, and Martinović says that it is "both in myth and in reality".

"Balša is looking for her in the sense of building what Hegel called the spirit of urbanity. A city is created long before a citizen is created, and Balša is looking for that spirit of this city. The novel begins with the arrival in Podgorica, and ends with the departure, which is no accident. I'm afraid that it's a sentimental, nostalgic, maybe a little melancholic conclusion in relation to the subject he's writing about, which of course does not mean that the entire novel is in that tone, on the contrary, it has very fun and humorous episodes", notes Martinović.

Koprivica revealed some of the most impressive scenes for him, from the very beginning of the novel, from which one can already sense the interesting plot on several fronts.

"Balša's beginning is interesting. More interesting than the Orient Express", says Koprivica, still reading some of the excerpts.

It could be said that he sees himself in some characters, that he brings some to life quite imaginatively, and really identifying with the characters seems inevitable for every reader, given the approximately 150 authentic occurrences in the novel.

The city's originals are also present, Brković adds, he mentions some of the characters, but even he, as the author, finds it difficult to single out only a few, because they all have some significance and all together build the spirit of the story. Martinović emphasizes that there is no cynicism in the novel, but Brković is sympathetic to all the heroes who make up and represent Podgorica as he portrays it.

"The novel is structured by episodes that are a kind of simultaneity with the readers. Chess plays an important role - a chess club is founded in Podgorica, and it is interesting that it also gets a women's section", Martinović reveals one of the branches of the shop and says that he, as a reader, would like to know more about the story of the two families depicted in the novel.

Announcing the text he is writing as a review of Brković's "Aurora", Koprivica comments: "Fornication itself floats through this novel", he notes the author's unmistakable sense of rhythm and control, the details in which literature lies and emphasizes that "Aurora" is actually a novel of melodrama, carefully controlled so it never goes into pathos. He further hints that the series would be more than interesting.

"As our young and bright colleague already sees this book as a series, candidates for roles and who would play what are coming forward. I know that Milusa would definitely play Sonja Vukicevic...", he commented and drew applause from the audience.

Koprivica also pointed out that football is a particularly important segment in the novel. And it is, just like chess, two special passions... Football builds on and provides a special level to life, and so to the novel, not only through the characters, but also the placement of teams such as Zora, Balšić, Radnički, and there are also derbies, games, the resourcefulness of football players, the fans and the moment after one specific match, the utterance of perhaps the fateful sentence: "It seems that our future is red"... Koprivica continued with the arrival of one of the originals from the novel:

"Red clothes adorn me/I will wear it all the way to the grave", with social associations, (knowing Koprivica) far from football ones.

With a long round of applause, the promotion ended, and the socializing and conversations about the book, Podgorica, football and chess, theater continued with the music chosen by DJ Martel (Rade Vukčević).

Feminist dimension

Balša Brković recalled that the feminist dimension of the novel, in the broadest sense, was also important to him in building the characters and the story.

"I believe that Montenegrin literature is inadmissibly and irremediably macho and that this is one of its fundamental problems, because it has been in its long history. I believe that the responsibility in creating female characters is, in a certain sense, greater for a contemporary Montenegrin writer than for any other writer. what other literature. In that sense, I am glad that Prof. Božena Jelušić said that this is a feminist novel, which, of course, I do not deny, because it is definitely (!) a feminist novel," he said.

A chance given to young writers for a novel about urban Podgorica

Andro Martinović reminded that the year 2023 has so far been quite fruitful for Montenegrin writers, and that several works have appeared on the scene. Božo Koprivica said that the generation of writers to which Balša Brković belongs makes the work of younger authors much easier...

"This novel provides a chance for young writers to lean on it and write about urban, over-urban Podgorica. I'm just afraid that Balša, as an old rocker, won't overtake them. What I want to say is that the generation of Balša Brković, Andrej Nikolaidis, Ognjen Spahić , Aleksandar Bečanović, Pavle Goranović and others, had a much more difficult task than the current generations. That generation did a lot for Montenegro, because they made space out of that epic matrix and entered the circle equally with contemporary Yugoslav literature," Koprivica said. .