Academician Ljubomir Simović, one of the greatest modern Serbian poets and playwrights, a man who did not want to remain mute to the reality in which he lived, has passed away. "In the 2014s, the bar 'Šargan' was an island of the rejected on the outskirts of Belgrade, and today the whole of Serbia has become a bar 'Šargan'. A bar full of humiliated people without perspective and hope," Simović told "Vreme" in XNUMX.
One of the greatest modern Serbian poets and playwrights Ljubomir Simovic he died in the night between April 16 and 17 in Belgrade.
Simović was one of the regular members of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts who regularly spoke about current events in society.
"This rebellion must lead to a political result that will ensure that all competences are returned to legal institutions, that the democratic character of this country is established and secured, that good relations are established above all with its neighbors and that Serbia, as a European country, takes a more serious approach to the problem of its entry into the European Union," said the academician about the student protests for the "Danas" newspaper in February of this year.
As he told Vreme
The famous academic gave two interviews for the weekly "Vreme", in 2014 and 2019. His words, spoken six and eleven years ago, are still relevant today.
"In our political life today, hate speech is simply rampant, and ignorance has never ruled the public scene as much as it does today." said the academician for "Vreme".
Simović 2019 spoke, among other things, about the destruction of Belgrade's cultural heritage.
"After the liberation of Užice, at the very end of the Second World War, a meeting was held on the Wheat Market - now Partizana Square. I remember that on the roof of the market scale, where the participants and speakers performed, music professor Dragoljub Jovašević sang:
The May Day has already begun,
Russians in Berlin are drinking tea now.
At that rally, as a third grader, I recited a satirical poem about occupied Belgrade. I forgot, a long time ago, that song and who its author was. But, looking at what has been happening in Belgrade in recent years - from Slavija and Savamala, through Belgrade on the water, through the abolition of the Main Railway Station, to the excavated boulevards, to Republic Square, to the moving of the living Old Sava bridge from the river to the meadow, to the mast, and to the cable car and the gondola on the Kalemegdan fortress, after so many years, I remembered the opening lines of that satire:
Belgrade, the glorious old city,
what the hell are they doing with you!”
Serbia as a tavern "Shargan"
In an interview for "Vreme" in 2014, Simović talked about the premiere of his play "Miracle in Šargan" at the National Theater in Užice.
"After the breakup of Yugoslavia, some nations defined, organized and stabilized their states. We are among those who did not do that. Serbia has turned into a country that imports beans and garlic and exports decorations," said Simović.
He added that in the 1960s, the "Šargan" tavern was an island of outcasts on the outskirts of Belgrade, while today this is not the case.
"Today, the whole of Serbia has become a 'Shargan' tavern. A tavern full of humiliated people without perspective and hope. Only that peripheral political activist Mile, in the meantime, probably became a minister, if not something bigger than that."
Biography and bibliography
Ljubomir Simović was born on December 2, 1935 in Užice. He completed primary and secondary school in his hometown, and graduated from the Faculty of Philology of the University of Belgrade, from the group for the history of Yugoslav literature and the Serbo-Croatian language.
He spent his working life as an editor in the cultural editorial office of Radio Belgrade.
He published poetry books: Slavic Elegies (1958), Happy Graves (1961), Poslednja zemlja (1964), Helmets (1967), Before the Third Roosters (1972), Saturday (1976), View of Two Waters (1980), Mind for the Sea (1982), Ten Addresses to the Three-Handed Virgin of Hilandarska (1983), Eastern Town (1983), Gornji Grad (1990), Needle and Thread (1992), Eggshell (1998), Point (2004) and Planet Danube (2009).
Selections from Simović's poetry were published in the books Selected Poems (1980), Bread and Salt (1985, 1987), Origins and Other Poems (1994), Learning in the Dark (1995), Collected Poems I-II (1999) and Poems. Book one and Poems. Book two (2005).
Simović wrote four plays: Hasanaginica, Miracle in Šargan, Šopalović Traveling Theater and Battle in Kosovo. Simović's plays were performed on many Serbian stages, as well as abroad.
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