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PART ISAN ItEVIEW
Simi c, also a fi rst-class so lo tra nslator, gathers traditi onal fo lk so ngs and
the work o f eighteen Serbian poe ts born between 1894 and 1957 . Simic
is intelli ge ntly eclecti c: " I translated only what I liked , and kept only
what I felt I did justi ce to," he states in his Introducti o n. His guidelines
yield a great deal. Serbi an poe try's most impo rtant era immedi ately fol–
lows W o rld W ar
II ,
during whi ch time all but the first two poe ts in–
cluded in hi s anth o logy were ac ti ve. Those bo rn befo re 1935 count
among their ranks such maj or fi gures as Vasko Popa (1922 - 199 1), w in–
ner o f the Austri an State Pri ze fo r Literature; Branko Miljkovi c (1934 -
1960), and Ivan V. Lalic (b . 193 1). The vo lume also contains surprises
and shows a unity in variety matched o nly by
Cla y and Star.
Se rbia is a vast place of poe try and so ng, whi ch Simic makes us un–
derstand by leading off with ano nymo us o ral poe try and w ith women 's
songs. Amo ng th ese "Brotherl ess Sisters," "A Girl Threw an Appl e.. . ,"
and "Wind Blows, ... " are parti cularly appealing. Among the lettered
moderns we come upo n "The String" by Momcil o N astasij evi c; from
"Wh en the Poet
.. . "
by R ade Drainac; and "Bloody Fabl e" by
Desa nka M aksimovi c. Al eksa ndar Vu co's passage fro m
Cy ril and
Methodius
depicts a hard-ea rn ed sainthood ; and Branko Miljkovic is a
master of tight, passionate utterance . Let me qu ote in full hi s
ars poetica
"Sea without Poe ts":
You wa it for a ri ght moment
To attun e yourse lf to words
But th ere is no such poet
N or a wo rd full y free
o
bitter and blind sea
In love with shipwreck
As are we all. Miljkovic's "Everyone Will Write Poe try" is also well
worth comparing with Matij a Beckovi c's "N o One Will Write Poe try."
In the center of Simi c's book we find , back to bac k, two top poets .
J ovan Hristi c, in "Th at Ni ght T hey All Ga th e red o n th e Hi ghest
T owe r," repo rts: "That ni ght they all ga thered on th e hi ghest tower:/
Astronomers, math emati cians, and o ne of th e magi from Syri a/ T o read
in the stars the glory o f the King of Kings,! And demonstrate his immor–
tality with the aid of geometry." Ljubomir Simovi c's " Notati o n in
Gold" and "Crucifixion" answe r to this order o f cosmi c awareness, and
so do "The Law" and "About D ea th and Other Things," by Aleksandar
Ristovic. " If I Knew I'd Bea r Myse lf Proudly," by Matij a Beckovic, is a
brave political self-intervi ew. Among larger fo rms in the volume are from
Opus
11 by R ade Drainac; from
Holy Mass Jo r Relja Krilatica
by Milorad
