Sreten Asanović (22 February 1931 – 3 June 2016) was a Montenegrin author who established the short-story genre in that country. Asanović was born in

Donji Kokoti Donji Kokoti ( sr-cyrl, Доњи Кокоти) is a suburb located five kilometers of Podgorica, Montenegro. According to the 2011 census, it had a population of 1,073, the majority of which identified as Montenegrins. It is on the banks of rivers ...

, near

Podgorica Podgorica (Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Подгорица, ; Literal translation, lit. 'under the hill') is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Montenegro, largest city of Montenegro. The city was formerly known as Titograd ...

. He completed teacher-training school, focusing on preschool education. Asanović published his first story in the magazine ''Omladinski pokret'', in which he had already contributed movie reviews and written a column ("From the Lives of Famous People"). From 1957 to 1960, he was editor-in-chief of the Titograd (

) magazine ''Susreti''; editor for the

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its a ...

magazine Oslobodjenje from 1960 to 1962; first editor-in-chief of the journal '' Odjek'' from 1963 to 1965; secretary of the Commission for Culture and Art in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

from 1965 to 1972, and editor-in-chief of the Titograd magazine ''Stvaranje'' from 1973 to 1989. Since the 1960s, he was actively supporting the theory about the existing of the separate Montenegrin language.

Published works

Books

* ''Dugi trenuci'' (''Long Moments'').

Cetinje Cetinje (, ) is a town in Montenegro. It is the former royal capital (''prijestonica'' / приjестоница) of Montenegro and is the location of several national institutions, including the official residence of the president of Montenegro ...

: Narodna knjiga (1956) * ''Ne gledaj u sunce'' (''Don’t Look at the Sun''). Cetinje: Obod (1960) * ''Igra Vatrom'' (''Playing with Fire'').

: Svjetlost (1966) * ''Lijepa Smrt'' (''Beautiful Death'', with a preface by Ratko Bozovic). Titograd: Graficki zavod – Luca (1971) * ''Opojno pice'' (''Intoxicating Drink'', with a preface by Milo Kralj).

: Rad (1977) * ''Noc na golom brdu'' (''Night on Barren Hill'').

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

: Mladost (1980) * ''O kulturi i stvaralastvu'' (''On Culture and the Act of Creation'') (articles). Belgrade: Radnicka stampa (1981) * ''Lice kao zemlja'' (''A Face Like Earth'', in a collection of stories by Gojko Antic with a preface by Mirjana Strcic). Niksic: Univerzitetska rijec (1988) * ''Putnik'' (''Traveller'', a novel). Cetinje: Dignitas, 1994. * ''Martiri i pelegrini'' (''Martyrs and Pilgrims'').

Ulcinj Ulcinj ( cyrl, Улцињ, ; ) is a town on the southern coast of Montenegro and the capital of Ulcinj Municipality. It has an urban population of 10,707 (2011), the majority being Albanians. As one of the oldest settlements in the Adriatic coast ...

: Plima, 2000. * ''Selected works'' (four volumes). Ulcinj: Plima (2003) * ''Nomina''. Ulcinj: Plima, 2006. * ''Zvijezde padaju'' (''The Stars are Falling'', with a preface and postscript by Jovan Nikolaidis). Zagreb: NZCH and Plima. * ''Kratke price'' (''Short stories''). Cetinje Podgorica: OKF and Pobjeda, 2015.

Other work

Asanović appears in ''Sablja'' (''Sabre''), an anthology of stories edited by Camil Sijaric and published by Luca. He supplied prefaces, postscripts and notes to Cedo Vukovic's ''Selection of Montenegrin 19th-Century Travelogues''. Asanović's radio dramas ''To je ta zvijezda'' (''That’s the Star'') and ''Samo kisa i vjetar'' (''Only Rain and Wind'') have been performed.He has written screenplays for documentaries about Montenegrin culture, the town of Cetinje and the 1979 earthquake in 1979. Asanović was president of the Writers’ Association of Montenegro (1973–1976), vice-president of the Writers’ Union of Yugoslavia (1976–1979), president of the Writers’ Union of Yugoslavia (1979–1981), an editorial-board member of the Lexicographic Institute of Zagreb and an editor in its literature department. Asanović's work is included in domestic and foreign encyclopedias, biographies and academic literature. ''Lijepa smrt'' has been translated into Albanian (''Vdekje e hieshme'', Pristina, Rilindija 1975), Macedonian (''Ubava smrt'', Skopje, Misla, 1977), Russian (''Raskazi'', Moscow, Inostrana literatura 1977), Romanian (''Frumoasa moarte'', Bucharest, Univers 1978) and Italian (''La bella morte'', Salerno-Rome, Ripostes 1993). Asanovic's stories have been published in newspapers, magazines and anthologies on more than 20 languages.

Awards

* ''Trinaestojulska nagrada Skupstine SR Crne Gore'' (Montenegro's highest national award) for ''Lijepa Smrt'', 1972 * ''Oslobodjenje Titograda'' (Liberation of Podgorica Award) for best literary work (''Igra vatrom''), 1967 * ''Goranova nagrada'' (Goran Award) for best Serbo-Croatian book of the year (''Noc na Golom Brdu''), 1981 * NR Montenegro Education Council Award for the short story ''"Dzelat"'' ("The Executor"), 1954 * Writers Association of Montenegro Award for the short-story collection ''Dugi trenuci'' (''Long Moments''), 1957 * ''Stvaranje'' (''Creation Magazine'') Award for ''"Uspravani konjanik"'' ("The Sleepy Horseman"), 1959 * Medal of Brotherhood and Unity, 1976

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Asanovic, Sreten 1931 births 2016 deaths Montenegrin writers Montenegrin male writers