Mirko Kovač (writer)

Mirko Kovač (writer)
Mirko Kovač (26 December 1938 – 19 August 2013) was a Yugoslav writer. In his rich career he wrote novels, short stories, essays, film scripts, TV and radio plays. Among his best known works are the novels Gubilište, Životopis Malvine Trifković, Vrata od utrobe, Grad u zrcalu, the short story collection Ruže za Nives Koen, the book of essays Europska trulež and the scripts for some of the most successful films of Yugoslav cinema like Handcuffs, Playing Soldiers and Occupation in 26 Pictures among others. He was one quarter of the infamous Belgrade quartet, the other three being Danilo Kiš, Borislav Pekić and Filip David.
Biography
Kovač was born to a Croat father and a Serb mother in the village of Petrovići in Banjani region near Nikšić, Montenegro. He went to elementary school in Trebinje but after leaving his family at the age of 16 he went to Vojvodina where he finished high school in Novi Sad. During that time he discovered the works of poet Tin Ujević and became interested in literature. He went on to study the works of other notable Croatian authors like Ranko Marinković, Vladan Desnica, Antun Branko Šimić and Vjekoslav Kaleb. After finishing school he published his first essay called Tri pesnika (Three Poets) about the works of Tin Ujević, Branko Miljković and Oskar Davičo. His first book Gubilište was published in 1962 and caused a big bang on the Yugoslav literature scene. The communist authorities declared the book inappropriate because of its dark portrayal of life and started a campaign against Kovač which resulted in a year long polemic. Many authors including Predrag Matvejević and Danilo Kiš wrote in Kovač's defence.
He received: Serbian NIN Prize 1978 and Andrić Award 1979, Swedish PEN Tucholsky Award (1993), German Herder Prize (1995), Montenegrin Njegoš Award (2009) and 13th July award (2004), Slovenian Vilenica Award (2003), Croatian Vladimir Nazor Award (2008) etc. He lived in Belgrade, but moved to Rovinj, Croatia, his wife's hometown, after Slobodan Milošević came to power.
An annual award in his name is given to authors from the Balkans in four categories.
Bibliography
Gubilište (1962), novel
Moja sestra Elida (1965), novel
Malvina (1970), novella
Rane Luke Meštrevića (1971), short story collection
Ruganje sa dušom (1976), novel
Vrata od utrobe (1978), novel (NIN award)
Uvod u drugi život (1983), novel
Evropska trulež (1986), essays
Nebeski zaručnici (1987), short story collection
Okupacija u 26 slika i drugi scenariji (1990), film scripts
Evropska trulež i drugi eseji (1994), essays
Bodež u srcu (1995), publicist texts
Kristalne rešetke (1995), novel
Na odru (1996), short stories
Rastresen život (1996), novel fragments
Cvjetanje mase (1997), publicist texts
Knjiga pisama 1992-1995 (1998), correspondence with Filip David
Isus na koži (2003), plays
Grad u zrcalu (2007), novel
Pisanje ili nostalgija (2008), essays
Ruže za Nives Koen (2009), short story collection
Vrijeme koje se udaljava (2013), memoir
Screenplays:
Playing Soldiers
Lisice
Passion According to Matthew
Occupation in 26 Pictures
The Fall of Italy
Evening Bells
Tetoviranje
Libertas
References
Sources
External links
Croatian novelists
Croatian male writers
Male novelists
Croatian screenwriters
1938 births
2013 deaths
Writers from Nikšić
Vladimir Nazor Award winners
Montenegrin novelists
20th-century Serbian novelists
Herder Prize recipients
Yugoslav writers
Serbian writers
Serbian novelists
20th-century male writers
Croatian people of Serbian descent
Montenegrin people of Serbian descent
Montenegrin people of Croatian descent
Serbian people of Croatian descent