Profile of Borislav Pekic on Famous Like Me

Borislav Pekic was a Serbian writer. He was born on February 4th 1930, to a prominent family in Montenegro, Yugoslavia. From 1945 until his immigration to London in 1971, he lived in Belgrade.

Early life and career

In 1953 Pekic studied psychology at the University of Belgrade. In 1958 he married Ljiljana Glišić, the niece of Milan Stojadinović, Prime Minister of Yugoslavia (1935-1939). In 1959 their daughter Alexandra was born, now Baroness von Maltzan (married in 1994 to Baron Victor von Maltzan) and currently living in London, UK.

In 1958, Pekic wrote his first of over twenty original film scripts for the major film studios in Yugoslavia. In 1961, Dan četrnaesti (The Fourteenth Day) represented Yugoslavia at the Cannes Film Festival.

Early novels

At that time, Pekić was already working on several of his future novels, and when the first of them, Vreme cuda (The Time of Miracles, 1965), came out, it caught the attention of a wide reading audience as well as the critics. In 1976 it was published in English by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich and subsequently by Northwestern University Press in 1994. It was also translated in French in 1986, Polish in 1986 and Rumanian in 1987. Pekic’s first novel clearly announced the two perhaps most important characteristics of his highly acclaimed work: his sharply anti-dogmatic views and eternal scepticism regarding any possible ‘progress’ mankind has achieved in the course of history.

During the years 1968-1969 he was one of the editors of the popular literary newspaper Knizevne Novine. In 1968 Yugoslavia’s tempestuous political events helped him to find an appropriate ending for his second novel Hodočašće Arsenija Njegovana (The Pilgrimage of Arsenije Njegovan, 1970) and further complicated his relationship with the authorities. Pekić won the prestigious ‘NIN’ award for the best Yugoslav novel, and the work was published in English again by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich as Houses of Belgrade in 1978, and subsequently by Northwestern University-Press in 1994. The novel was published in Polish, Czech and Rumanian in 1985.

Exile and further work

Following Pekić's immigration to London in 1971, the Yugoslav authorities still considered him a persona non grata, and as a result, from 1971 to 1975 not one of his books was published in Yugoslavia, including Kako upokojiti Vampira (How to Quiet a Vampire). Nevertheless he did not give up, and in 1977 sent the manuscript of Kako upokojiti Vampira to an anonymous literary competition. The Association of Yugoslav Publishers recognized it as the best novel of the year and promptly published it. Kako upokojiti Vampira (How to Quiet a Vampire) was subsequently published in Czech in 1980, Polish in 1985, Italian in 1992, with the English translation to be published in spring 2004 by Northwestern University Press.

Based in part on Pekić’s own prison experiences as a result of rebelling against the communist regime from 1948-53, the novel offers an insight into the mechanisms of the logic and psychology of a modern totalitarian regime. In 1975, Uspenje i sunovrat Ikara Gubelkijana (The Rise and Downfall of Icarus Gubelkian) was published in Yugoslavia and later in Polish in 1980, Hungarian in 1982, Czech in 1985 and in French in 1992.

His novel Odbrana i poslednji dani (The Defence and the Last Days, 1977) was published in Polish and Hungarian in 1982, Czech in 1983, French in 1989 and Swedish in 2003. The three novels essentially dealt with contrasted types of collaboration in Yugoslavia at different levels during World War II.

In 1978, after more than two decades of preparing, investigating, studying and developing, the first volume of Zlatno runo (The Golden Fleece, 1978-1986) was published, fully establishing Pekić as one of the most important Serbian authors. In 1987 he received the highly prestigious Njegos award for this work, marking it one of the most important contemporary prose writings in Yugoslavia. In its different aspects, The Golden Fleece has succeeded in pushing the boundaries of some of the most important works in modern European literature, prompting internationally leading critics to compare the saga to James Joyce’s Ulysses, and its narrative patterns of classical myths; to Thomas Mann’s Buddenbrooks, and its long family history and evolution of pre-war society; Aldous Huxley’s Point Counter Point, and its inner tensions created through a maze of conflicting perspectives; yet all the way hailing The Golden Fleece as thoroughly unique. One of the novel’s obvious distinctions is its enormous scope and thematic complexity. The Golden Fleece describes the wanderings of generations of the Njegovans, and through them explores the history of the Balkans. The first and the second volumes were published in French in 2002 and 2003 with the remaining five volumes to be published annually, completing all seven volumes by the year 2008.

At the same time in the 1980s Pekić created something entirely new. In fact, at that time he had already been collecting material for a book about the lost island of Atlantis for a year, with the intention to give “a new, although poetical, explanation of the roots, development, and the end of our civilization”. Despite the classical sources that inspired his anthropological interests, Pekić decided to project his new vision into the future and thus avoid the restrictions of the ‘historical models’, which he had inevitably to confront in his earlier remakes of ancient myths. As a result he produced three novels: Besnilo (Rabies, 1983), Atlantida (Atlantis, 1988) and 1999 (Nineteen-hundred-ninety-nine, 1984). The novel Rabies together with The Golden Fleece and The Years the Locusts Have Devoured, were selected by readers as the best novels in the years from 1982 to 1991. All of them were reprinted numerous times in Yugoslavia. Rabies was published in Spanish (1988), and Hungarian (1994), and Atlantis in Czech (1989). For the novel Atlantis Pekić won the ‘Croatian Goran’ award in 1988.

At the end of 1984 the Selected Works comprising of 12 volumes appeared, winning Pekić an award from the Union of Serbian Writers.

Godine koje su pojeli skakavci (The Years the Locusts Have Devoured, volume 1, 2 & 3) was published between 1987-1990. Two parts of the 1st volume were translated into English and published in literary magazines. These are Pekić’s memoirs with an account of the post war days, and the life and persecutions of the bourgeoisie under the communist rule. The account is not purely autobiographical in the classical sense, since Pekić also deals with life in general in Yugoslavia after the Second World War. He depicts the prison life as a unique civilization, and the civilization of ‘freedom’ as a special kind of prison. This trilogy was selected as the best memoir and received the award ‘Milos Crnjanski’.

The gothic stories Novi Jerusalim (New Jerusalem) were published in 1989, and Pekić accepted the award Majska Rukovanja (Montenegro, 1990) for his literary and cultural achievements. Two stories from the book were published in French and English in different anthologies.

As a part-time commentator at the BBC World Service in London, (1986-1991) Pekić read his ‘Letters from London’ every week and subsequently printed in Yugoslavia - Pisma iz tudjine, Nova pisma iz tudjine, Poslednja pisma iz tudjine (Letters From Abroad, 1, 2 &3, 1987-1991). Each book was made up of 50 letters, which have witty and inventive observations about England and the English people, covering different subjects and events. The letters were also broadcast for listeners in Yugoslavia, for whom Pekić particularly enjoyed making numerous humorous comparisons between the English and his fatherland’s governments, country and the characteristics of its people. For these books he received the Jaša Ignjatović award (Hungary) in 1991. Pekic also ran a series on the same program at the BBC about the history of Great Britain, which was published posthumously - Sentimentalna povest Britanskog carstva (A Sentimental History Of The British Empire, 1992), for which he received the Yearly ‘Bigz’ award. It was published several times enjoying a huge success.

Theater and film

Pekić distinguished himself in the 1970s as one of the best Serbian contemporary dramatists. He regularly wrote radio-plays for Westdeutscher Rundfunk, Cologne, as well as Süddeutscher Rundfunk Stuttgart. From the 27 plays written and performed in Yugoslavia, 17 had their first production in Germany. Many of them were transformed into theatre and/or TV plays, and received a number of prestigious awards. He had 16 of them published in his Odabrana dela (Selected works, 1984) and his plays, Generali ili srodstvo po oruzju (The Generals or Kinship-In-Arms, 1969) can be found in any anthology of Serbian contemporary drama. His theatre plays were widely acclaimed and popular, the most famous being Korešpondencija (Correspondence 1979), based on the fourth volume of the Golden Fleece and running for 280 performances, namely 23 years at the Atelje 212 Theatre in Belgrade.

Throughout his career, Pekić worked on numerous films, writing both original screenplays and adapting selected novels of his. The main ones were: The Time of Miracles and The Devils Heaven (The Summer of White Roses). The Time of Miracles was elected to represent Yugoslavia at the Cannes Film Festival in 1991 winning an award, and later at film festivals in Glasgow and Montreal. The Devils Heaven (The Summer of White Roses) won an award at the film festival in Tokyo (Japan) in 1989 and was elected the same year to represent Yugoslavia at film festivals at Montpellier (France), Pula (Croatia), San Sebastian (Spain) and in Los Angeles and San Francisco (USA).

End of life

In 1990 he was one of the editors of the new opposition newspaper Demokratija (Democracy), and the same year he became the Vice President of the Democratic Party of Serbia. Pekic was a member of the P. E. N. Association in London and Belgrade, and became Vice President of the Serbian P. E. N. Association between 1990-92. He was elected to The Serbian Academy of Science and Arts in 1985, and was made a member of the Advisory Committee to The Royal Crown in 1992.

Active both as an author and a public figure until his last day, Pekić died of lung cancer in London on July 2, 1992.

Awards, posthumous work, and memory

Posthumously, in 1992, H.R.H. Crown Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia awarded Pekić the Royal Order of the Two-headed White Eagle, being the highest honour bestowed by a Serbian monarch.

A large body of his work was, and continues to be, published posthumously:

Vreme reci (The Time of Words, 1993); Odmor od istorije (A Pause from History, 1993); Graditelji (The Architects, 1994); Radjanje Atlantide (Conceiving Atlantis, 1996); Skinuto sa trake (Transferred from Tapes, 1996); U traganju za Zlatnim runom (Meditating on the Golden Fleece, 1997); Izabrana pisma iz tudjine (Selected Letters from Abroad, 2000); Politicke sveske (Borislav Pekic's Political Notebooks, 2001); Filosofske sveske (Borislav Pekic's Philosophical Notebooks, 2001); Korespondencija kao zivot, 1&2 (Correspondence as a life, 2002-2003).

On the 1st and 2nd July 2000, The Serbian Academy of Science and Arts, in Belgrade, held a symposium with the theme: ‘Literary Work of Borislav Pekic’ on the Occasion of the ‘70th Anniversary of His Birth’. The essays from that symposium were published in 2003.

External link

• Complete bibliography in Serbian

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