Branko Ćopić
Branko Ćopić | |
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Alley of Distinguished Citizens, Belgrade New Cemetery | |
Occupation | Novelist, short story writer |
Branko Ćopić (Serbian Cyrillic: Бранко Ћопић, pronounced [brǎːnkɔ t͡ɕɔ̂pit͡ɕ]; 1 January 1915 – 26 March 1984) was a Yugoslav writer. He wrote poetry, short stories and novels, and became famous for his stories for children and young adults, often set during World War II in revolutionary Yugoslavia, written with characteristic Ćopić's humor in the form of ridicule, satire and irony.
As a professional writer, Ćopić was very popular and was able to sell large number of copies. This allowed him to live solely from his writings, which was rare for the novelists in Yugoslavia at the time. However, the quality of his writings brought him inclusion into primary school curriculum, which meant that some of his stories found their way in to the text-books and some novels became compulsory reading.
In the early 1950s, he also wrote satirical stories, criticizing social and political anomalies and personalities from the country's political life of the time, for which he was considered a dissident and "heretic", and had to explain himself to the
Biography
Ćopić was born into a
During the uprising in Bosanska Krajina in 1941, he joined the Partisans and remained in their ranks until the end of World War II.[7] He was his detachment's political commissar, war correspondent for the Borba newspaper and a cultural proletarian.[5] That period of his life influenced much of his literary work as can be seen by the themes he would go on to write about. He was recipient of the Commemorative Medal of the Partisans of 1941.[7] At the end of the war he returned to Belgrade where he worked as an editor in several magazines until 1949, including the children's magazine Pionir ("Pioneer").[6] On 16 December 1965 he became an associate member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts and was elected to the full membership 7 March 1968, and a member of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina.[8][4][9][10]
Many of his novels and stories were included into primary school curriculum and were part of the text-books.[10] His works have been translated into more than a thirty languages,[9] including English, German, French, Russian,[11] Albanian, Czech, Dutch, Italian, Macedonian, Chinese, Polish, Romanian, Turkish, Slovak, Slovene,[12] and some of them have been turned into TV series. He was featured on the 0.50 Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark bill, which has been withdrawn from circulation and replaced with coins.
Ćopić's biographer and close friend was Enes Čengić,[13] a fellow Bosnian-Herzegovinian journalist and writer, who lived and worked in Zagreb, and was also biographer and sole beneficiary of Miroslav Krleža will regarding his entire opus, including significant portion of copy-rights. Čengić has written three books (in several volumes) on Ćopić,[14] namely Branko Ćopić i njegovi junaci u slici i prilici (transl. Branko Ćopić and His Heroes in Picture and Situation), Ćopićev humor i zbilja (1 i 2) (transl. Ćopić's Humor and Reality 1 and 2), Ćopić kroz svjetla i pomrčine (transl. Ćopić Through Light and Darkness), one publication Šesdeset godina života i šest miliona knjiga Branka Ćopića: prigodna publikacija (transl. Sixty Years of Life and Six Millions Books of Branko Ćopić: Publicati),[15] while his daughter published one more, titled Branko Ćopić: Treba sanjati (transl. Branko Ćopić: Need to Dream), after her father passed away from his unpublished manuscript.[16][17]
Literary career
From at least 1951 until his death Branko Ćopić was a professional writer, who lived solely of his writings as, due to his popularity, his books were sold in millions of copies, both in Yugoslavia and abroad.[10]
His first published short story was Smrtno ruvo Soje Čubrilove ("Death robe of Soja Čubrilova"), printed in 1936 in the Belgrade daily Politika. Politika's editor, Žika Milićević, was known for his strictness and he initially rejected many other Ćopić's stories, but he continued to write them and to send them to Milićević until he decided to print them in the newspapers. Milićević promised to that he will publish two of his stories each month, if they are good. Before 1941 and outbreak of the World War II in Yugoslavia, Politika published 125 of his stories. Ćopić considered this collaboration with Politika as a "great stimulus" and the "beginning of the serious literary affirmation".
His first short stories collection Ćopić published in 1938, and continued to write throughout the war.[10] He dedicated the first two published collection, entitled Pod Grmečom (transl. Under the Grmeč, 1938) and Borci i bjegunci (transl. Fighters and Runaways, 1939), to his homeland Bosnia and Herzegovina.[11]
These collection of short stories proved his gift for storytelling, and were followed by other, including Planinci (transl. Mountain Men, 1940). In 1939 he was recipient of
Regional mark of his prose can be recognized in the characters, locations, themes and language of his home region, Bosnian Krajina. His pre-war prose was predominantly lyrical (collections like Rosa na bajonetima (transl. Dew on the Bayonets, 1946), Sveti magarac i druge priče (transl. Holy Donkey and Other stories), Surova škola (transl. Cruel School, 1948) but after the war, he subordinated the lyrical to the ideological and socially engaged. His short stories were often described as the "stories of a dreamer boy".[6][18]
He published collections of poems Ognjeno rađanje domovine (transl. Fiery Birth of a Homeland, 1944) and Ratnikovo proljeće (transl. Warrior's Spring, 1947). Other short story collections Ljubav i smrt (transl. Love and Death, 1953).[5] Ćopić enriched the war short stories with humor and comical elements while in the novels Prolom (transl. The Break-out, 1952) and Gluvi barut (transl. Silent Gunpowder, 1957), he gave a broad prose fresco of the first war years in Bosnian Krajina. The turning point in his post-war development was Doživljaji Nikoletine Bursaća (transl. The Adventures of Nikoletina Bursać). Novels Ne tuguj, bronzana stražo (transl. Bronze Guards, Don't Mourn, 1958) and Osma ofanziva (transl. The Eight Offensive, 1966) deal with the state organized colonization of the Krajina's population into the province of Vojvodina.[18]
The collection Bašta sljezove boje (transl. The Mallow-color Garden, 1970) opens with a letter which Ćopić wrote to his late friend Zija Dizdarević (1916–42). In it, Ćopić sets the frame of the writing as a salvation from death and dark visions of the horsemen of the apocalypse. He perceives the world from the off-perspective of the good "fools", but despite the quixotic fervor and humor, the sense of sorrow, anxiety, disappointment and anti-utopian situations breaks through. In the follow-up, Dani crvenog sljeza (transl. Days of Red Mallow), it all evolves into the collapse of the social ideals as expensively paid illusions.[18]
He was also writing children's poetry and prose. Best known works include Priče partizanke (transl. Partisan Stories), Nasmejana sveska (transl. Smiley Notebook),[5] U carstvu leptirova i medveda (transl. In the realm of Butterflies and Bears), Vratolomne priče (transl. Daredevil Stories), Ježeva kućica (transl. Hedgehog's House), Doživljaji mačka Toše (transl. Adventures of Toscho the Cat), Orlovi rano lete ("Eagles Fly Early"; 1957).[18]
Social criticism
In the early 1950s, he also wrote satirical stories, criticizing anomalies and personalities from the country's political life of the time, corrupted by the materialism of the "comrades", blossomed bureaucracy and sycophancy, which he despised, and for which he was considered a dissident and "heretic" who had to explain himself to the party ranks.[13]
Using humor and satire, Ćopić targeted what he perceived to be social ills of the fledgling Yugoslav communist society. In 1950, he published Jeretička priča (transl. Heretic Story), mocking the new phenomena he observed around him such as state-owned company managers, Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) generals, government ministers, as well as their families and in-laws, misusing publicly funded resources including specific instances of government-provided luxurious cars being used by individuals form the above groups in order to be chauffeured to university lectures at faculties they recently enrolled in.[10] In the story, state funds were also used by the high state dignitaries to travel to the expensive sea resorts, with the complete lack of willingness to throw away the benefits and privileges they obtained after the war. He was immediately attacked by his war compatriot Skender Kulenović in the next edition of the literary magazine Književne novine.[19]
This was enough for the state security agency
At one of the meetings of the Women's Antifascist Front of Yugoslavia (AFŽ), Tito angrily said of Ćopić: "He lies! He is not telling the truth!". Ćopić's mother Stoja, who attended the meeting, said to Tito "My Branko never lies". After continuous attacks from Tito personally, Ćopić hanged on his door a page from newspapers where Tito stated that he will not arrest him.[6]
Ćopić was later accused of being an adherent of
Because of the story Izbor druga Sokrata (transl. The Election of Comrade Socrates), published in the
His contemporary comedy Odumiranje medveda (transl. Bear's Dying Out) from 1958 caused him further problems with the political establishment. After only several rehearsals of the play, dramatized by Soja Jovanović, it was banned from the Belgrade Drama Theatre, as "ordered from the top". It was played later, but never in Belgrade.[21] During all this time when he was criticized and ignored by the authorities, he was regularly visited by author Ivo Andrić.[10] When he was already considered too critical, no one wanted to sit next to him in the famous "Writer's Club" in Belgrade. One day Andrić sat next to him, and advised him to switch to writing novels, as "no one reads them". Ćopić was stunned that Andrić even swore, as Andrić was regarded a personification of a diplomat and a gentleman. He accepted the suggestion, writing Silent Gunpowder, but only made things worse. After a period of party harassment, he was expelled from the party in 1960. After his expulsion from the party, the cultural centers began to massively cancel hosting of his literary lectures, citing "house painting" as the reason for cancellation. He once asked his [former] party comrades "how long is this painting going to last"?[6]
He explained what he was writing in his defense when he was interrogated by the party apparatchiks: "Before you start writing, imagine that 50 years has passed already, that you and those who interrogate you today are not alive anymore, and someone starts to dig in their archives. Write in such a manner that you don't feel ashamed in front of that unknown man from the future."[10]
Though he maintained for a while his jovial spirit, expulsion from the party was a major psychological blow. Apart from Tito, he was directly and publicly attacked and harassed by the party elite, including
About his social criticism, Ćopić once said: "And I, tired of all that satire regarding petite bourgeoisie, religion, priests, sextons and khawajas, didn't want to close my eyes on social and political issues in new Yugoslavia either".[6]
Personal life
His father and his uncle, nicknamed Nidžo (father's brother), were simultaneously engaged in the
Ćopić met his future wife Bogdanka Ilić, nicknamed Cica, in 1945. Bogdanka Ćopić later became a
Ćopić was an avid reader, a painting lover and praised film and theatre, even penning several screenplays. He liked Italian neorealism, movies like The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, The Wages of Fear and Disney's animated movies. He admired Miguel de Cervantes, Maxim Gorky, Miloš Crnjanski, Ivan Cankar, Miroslav Krleža, Isidora Sekulić, Oskar Davičo, Mihailo Lalić and called himself Lički Bosanac ("Lika's Bosnian"). Ćopić said that the loneliness is hard and that life is short so it should be spent in love, concord and understanding.[10]
Death
On Monday, 26 March 1984, Ćopić called his longtime close friend Momčilo Srećković to come from Obrenovac to Belgrade. Srećković first met with Ćopić's wife, who told him that Branko had visited his doctor earlier that day and that he was depressed. Srećković found him around 16:00, sitting in Pioneers Park. They walked to Terazije, where they had cockta drink in the summer garden of the Hotel Moskva with Ćopić "opening his soul". He said that for several years he had problems writing, naming The Mallow Color Garden, The Adventures of Nikoletina Bursać and The Eighth Offensive as his favorites, and was sentimental about his childhood. According to Srećković, Ćopić was "talking a lot, more than I could memorize".[4][6]
They continued to Zeleni Venac and the Bridge of Brotherhood and Unity across the Sava, today called Branko's Bridge. Ćopić recollected his arrival to Belgrade, when he slept under the bridge (at the time, it was King Alexander Bridge, which was demolished during the war), saying "this bridge is my destiny". While showing the bench under the bridge where he slept back in 1936, Ćopić's glasses fell down onto the pavement below. Srećković went down the stairs to retrieve it, but when he climbed back to the bridge, Ćopić had already crossed the river to the other, New Belgrade side. Srećković hurried to catch him, calling him, but when he got close, Ćopić threw himself across the metal fence, falling on the pavement on the Sava's left bank.[6]
Police initially held Srećković as a witness, but also suspecting him of pushing Ćopić from the bridge. He was cleared after Ćopić's widow Bogdanka came to the police, bringing his suicide letter he left in the apartment. He ended the letter with "Goodbye you beautiful and scary life".[6]
The bridge in general gained an infamous reputation as a suicide bridge, as some 40 people try to commit suicide by jumping from it every year.[26] As the bridge is an extension of the Brankova Street, named after Branko Radičević, a Serbian romanticist poet, it was named after the street. However, an urban myth developed since then that the bridge was named after Ćopić's jump.[27][28][29]
Ćopić repeated several times to his close friend and biographer Enes Čengić that he would kill himself, and the reason he gave was his inability to even remember or recognize the people or things around him, which he blamed on his advanced sclerosis, so that he could no longer write a letter.[13]
Accolades
He received numerous awards from his early writing days: Academy of Seven Arts Award (1938),
He is a recipient of several Yugoslav decorations. He received the Order of the Yugoslav Flag with Sash (I rank), Order of Merits for the People with Golden Star (I rank), Order of Brotherhood and Unity with a Golden Wreath (I rank), Order of the Republic with a Silver Wreath (II rank), Order of Merits for the People with Silver Rays (II rank) and the Commemorative Medal of the Partisans of 1941.[5]
Assessment
Many of the characters he created were based on the real persons from his home region, on the slopes of the Grmeč mountain. Ćopić himself considered that his life works are three novels: The Mallow Color Garden, The Adventures of Nikoletina Bursać and The Eighth Offensive.[10]
Film director Puriša Đorđević made a documentary on Ćopić in 2016, titled Moja Mala iz Bosanske Krupe.[6] In 2023, a documentary Moj Branko ne laže (transl. My Branko is not lying) directed by Branko Lazić and written by Saša Berendika was made. It was titled after the words Ćopić's mother used to defend him from Tito.[20]
Author and literary critic
Works
Novels
- Prolom – The Break-out (1952)
- Gluvi barut – Silent Gunpowder (1957)
- Ne tuguj, bronzana stražo – Bronze Guards, Don't Mourn (1958)
- Osma ofanziva – The Eighth Offensive (1966)
Novels for children
- Orlovi rano lete – Eagles Fly Early (1957),
- Slavno vojevanje – Glorious Combat (1960) and
- Bitka u Zlatnoj dolini – The Battle of Golden Valley
– these three are known as „Pionirska trilogija“ – The Pioneer Trilogy,
- Magareće godine – "Donkey" Years (meaning: The Tough Teens);
- Balada o ribaru i mačku – Ballad of the Fisherman and the Cat
- Glava u klancu noge na vrancu – Head in the Col Legs on the Horse
- Ježeva kućica – Hedgehog's House (1949)
- Doživljaji mačka Toše – Adventures of Toscho the Cat
- Bašta sljezove boje – The Mallow Color Garden
- U carstvu medvjeda i leptirova – In the kingdom of bears and butterflies
- Priče ispod zmajevih krila – The stories under the dragon's wings
Films and television series made after Ćopić's writings
- "Živjeće ovaj narod" (1947)
- "Major Bauk" (1951)
- "Grob u žitu" (1951)
- "Nikoletina Bursać (1964)
- Eagles Fly Early (1966)
- "Četrdeset prva" (1971)
- "Hajdučka vremena" (1977)
- "Mala moja iz Bosanske Krupe" (1978)
- "Osma ofanziva", TV-series (1979)
- "Bježaćemo čak u Liku" (1979)
- "Odumiranje međeda" (1982)
- "Smiješne i druge priče" TV-series (1986)
- "Razgovori stari" (1986)
- Silent Gunpowder (1990)
- "Magareće godine" (1994)
- Ježeva kućica (2017)
See also
References
- ^ "IZDAVAČKI CENTAR MATICE SRPSKE". icms.rs. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
- ^ "АСК - АНТОЛОГИЈА СРПСКЕ КЊИЖЕВНОСТИ". www.antologijasrpskeknjizevnosti.rs. Archived from the original on 7 December 2018. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
- ^ "Branko Ćopić". Biografija (in Serbian). 8 February 2018. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
- ^ ISBN 978-86-17-17795-7.
- ^ a b c d e f Nikola Krsmanović; et al., eds. (1957). Ko je ko u Jugoslaviji, page 159 [Who's who in Yugoslavia]. Sedma sila, Belgrade.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Dragoljub Stevanović, Momčilo Srećković (27 September 2020). Бележи, јаране мој [Write it down, my friend]. Politika-Magazin, No. 1200 (in Serbian). pp. 28–29.
- ^ a b Boško Novaković (1971). Živan Milisavac (ed.). Jugoslovenski književni leksikon [Yugoslav Literary Lexicon] (in Serbo-Croatian). Novi Sad (SAP Vojvodina, SR Serbia): Matica srpska. pp. 75–76.
- ^ "Preminuli članovi". www.anubih.ba. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
- ^ a b FENA (26 March 2015). "Na današnji dan preminuo je Branko Ćopić". N1 (in Bosnian). FENA. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Mirjana Vulićević (10 December 2017), "Ćopić, od omiljenog do anatemisanog pisca" [Ćopić, from a favorite writer to the anathemized one], Politika (in Serbian)
- ^ a b "Branko Ćopić biografija". Lektire.hr. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
- ^ Jovica Letić. "Branko Ćopić". Poezija by Jovica Letić - ARS Poetica (in Serbo-Croatian). Retrieved 2 July 2021.
- ^ a b c Radmila Karlaš (31 March 2011). "Bosanski Ćopić u inat srpskom Ćopiću". 6yka.com. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
- ^ "Enes Čengić". krlezijana.lzmk.hr. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
- ^ "Results for 'au:Čengić, Enes. au:Ćopić, Branko.' [WorldCat.org]". www.worldcat.org. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
- ^ "ENES ČENGIĆ Branko Ćopić: Treba sanjati Žurnal - Jedina slobodna teritorija". zurnal.info. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
- OCLC 456742690. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
- ^ ISBN 978-86-17-17795-7.
- ^ )
- ^ a b c Dejan Petrović (22 April 2023). Сљезове боје српског Толкина [Marshmallow colors of Serbian Tolkien]. Politika-Kulturni dodatak, year LXVII, No. 2 (in Serbian). p. 2-3.
- ^ )
- )
- ^ "Pulski filmski festival: Gluvi barut - nagrade" [Pula film festival: Silent Gunpowder - awards]. Pulski Filmski Festival (in Croatian). 2019.
- ^ "Gluvi barut - awards". IMDB.
- ^ "ŠTO JE BRANKO ĆOPIĆ REKAO O SEBI: "Motikom bi njega trebalo iz mraka"". Lupiga (in Croatian). 12 April 2015. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
- ^ M.Luković (8 July 2010), ""Gazelini regent" preuzimaju dužnost", Politika (in Serbian)
- ^ Dejan Aleksić (3 May 2007). "Kad kreneš u Srpskih vladara, a prijatelj te čeka u Maršala Tita" (in Serbian). Politika.
- ^ Z.Nikolić (9 October 2013). "Beogradske priče: Bezimeni Brankov most" (in Serbian). Večernje novosti.
- ^ "Sporno ime mosta" (in Serbian). 21 February 2000.
- ^ Mihajlo Pantić (24 July 2021). Бранко Ћопић (изводи из књиге Приче о писцима) [Branko Ćopić (excerpts from the book Tales of writers)]. Politika-Kulturni dodatak, ywar LXV, No. 15 (in Serbian). p. 1.
External links
- Media related to Branko Ćopić at Wikimedia Commons