Jevrem Brković (; 29 December 1933 – 24 January 2021) was a Montenegrin poet, writer, journalist, dissident and historian. Brković was one of the founders and member of

Doclean Academy of Sciences and Arts The Doclean Academy of Sciences and Arts ( Montenegrin and Serbian: Dukljanska akademija nauka i umjetnosti, DANU / Дукљанска академија наука и уметности'', ''ДАНУ; Latin ''Academia Dioclitiana Scientiarum et ...

(DANU), a parallel scholars' academy in Montenegro, disputed by the national

Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts ( Montenegrin and Serbian: Црногорска академија наука и умјетности, ''Crnogorska akademija nauka i umjetnosti''; ЦАНУ, ''CANU'') is the most important scientific insti ...

(CANU), parallel academy dissolved in 2015 with its membership, including Brković rejoined CANU.

Biography

He was born in the Seoca village near

Podgorica Podgorica (Cyrillic: Подгорица, ; lit. 'under the hill') is the capital and largest city of Montenegro. The city was formerly known as Titograd (Cyrillic: Титоград, ) between 1946 and 1992—in the period that Montenegro form ...

, Zeta Banate,

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 ...

. Brković worked as a journalist at the Radio Titograd and was a deputy editor of the magazine "Ovdje". Brković spent his early life in

Belgrade, Serbia Belgrade ( , ;, ; names in other languages) is the capital and largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. Nearly 1,166,763 mill ...

, then capital city of

Socialist Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yugo ...

. In 1975 he was the recipient of the "13 July prize", the most prestigious Montenegrin national annual award. While in Belgrade, Brković promoted civil disobedience and supported free society. A romantic poet of the same league, he intimately befriended Matija Bećković and

Radovan Karadžić Radovan Karadžić ( sr-cyr, Радован Караџић, ; born 19 June 1945) is a Bosnian Serb politician, psychiatrist and poet. He was convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes by the International Criminal Tr ...

, though he would later become their most harsh critic. During the

Yugoslav wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and insurgencies that took place in the SFR Yugoslavia from 1991 to 2001. The conflicts both led up to and resulted from ...

in the 1990s he affected a pro-Montenegrin attitude and his views were described as being

anti-establishment An anti-establishment view or belief is one which stands in opposition to the conventional social, political, and economic principles of a society. The term was first used in the modern sense in 1958, by the British magazine ''New Statesman'' ...

. He was also a critic of the regime led by

Milo Đukanović Milo Đukanović ( cnr, Мило Ђукановић, ; born 15 February 1962) is a Montenegrin politician serving as the President of Montenegro since 2018, previously serving in the role from 1998 to 2003. He also served as the Prime Minister ...

. In 1994, due to Đukanovic's pressure and political persecutions, Brković left Montenegro for

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

where he stayed for some time. While in Croatia he studied the research of the historian Savić Marković Štedimlija and Croatian historian Ivo Pilar. In 1999 he returned to Montenegro, when, in his words, "Montenegro once again became Montenegrin". He was since a strong supporter of Montenegrin independence from the state union of Serbia and Montenegro. The same year Brković became the founder and first president of the

, a non-governmental cultural organization in Montenegro, dedicated to Štedimlija's research of Montenegrins' true original Red Croat identity and to proving that Montenegrins are not related to the Serbs. Seen as an organization paired to the official

which it reckons is pro-Serb and pro-establishment, among others, at around the same time, he became the editor of ''Crnogorski književni list'' (Montenegrin Literary Paper) also known as ''CKL'' that is published in Montenegrin, Serbian, Bosnian and Croatian language. He was praised and criticized for his frequent activism and role as Montenegrin independentist and liberty sympathizer and honest patriot and cosmopolitan, his enemies mostly calling him an "'' Ustaša''" because of his opposition to

Serbian nationalism Serbian nationalism asserts that Serbs are a nation and promotes the cultural and political unity of Serbs. It is an ethnic nationalism, originally arising in the context of the general rise of nationalism in the Balkans under Ottoman rule, u ...

. His works were also praised and criticized for his satirical humour and due to frequent use of obscene and vulgar language. In 2001, his organization, the

, actively campaigned for the election of "Coalition for an Independent Montenegro". On October 24, 2006 Brković and his driver and bodyguard Srđan Vojičić were attacked by three armed men. Vojičić was shot dead, while Brković escaped with mild injuries, The reason for the attack was his latest book, ''Ljubavnik Duklje'' (The Doclean Lover), in which he ridiculed people from contemporary Montenegrin public life such as close friends of

. Brković died on 24 January 2021 at the age of 87.

Personal life

His son,

Balša Brković Balša Brković ( Montenegrin Cyrillic: Балша Брковић) (born 25 April 1966) is a Montenegrin writer, essayist and theatre critic. He is also editor of cultural section of daily newspaper Vijesti, and one of the prominent members of the ...

is also a notable Montenegrin writer., while his grandson Brajan Brković lives in Serbia and is the vice president of the

Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; hu, Újvidék, ; german: Neusatz; see below for other names) is the second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pan ...

branch of the Party of Freedom and Justice.

Works

Poetry

* Testaments * Highlands Country * Highlands Homer is dead * Sons of Bitches * Ancient fog around the home * Komite ballads

Novels

* Pantelej on a cornel * Duke's men * Black spots * Monigrens * Stone-cutters * The Lover of Doclea

Philosophical works

* The anatomy of a Stalinist's moral * Mine fields of the esthetics * The destroyed face of democracy * Glossary * Foundation and destroying of the Ozrović house

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brkovic, Jevrem 1933 births 2021 deaths Writers from Podgorica Montenegrin writers Montenegrin male writers Montenegrin politicians Dissidents Anti-war activists Members of the Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts Montenegrin nationalists Burials in Montenegro