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”VLADISLAV PETKOVIĆ DIS” LIBRARY IN ČAČAK, APPROACHING ITS 175TH ANNIVERSARY
Home of Meaning and Books
Only at the age of 171, it stopped being homeless and subtenant. In its new edifice, in Sinđelićeva 24, beautiful and modern, with an excellent young and professional team, many new possibilities have opened. Since 2018, the Library has got a valuable trace of the one whose name it is carrying. The legacy of journalist Siniša Paunović is there, and a section dedicated to Branko V. Radičević is in preparation. Numerous works of art in refined spaces attract attention, new approaches in processing material and handling books, very interesting live cultural events. However, far most important are readers, from the youngest to the oldest. They give and receive meaning here

The year 1848 is considered the year of establishing the City Library, the oldest cultural institution in Čačak, when the Society of Reading Serbo-Slavic Newspaper was founded in the city on the Western Morava. It was the forerunner of the Reading Room which officially started working on January 1860. The event was so important that Svetovid newspaper wrote that the opening of the Reading Room was accompanied with firecrackers and bells from the city church.
After more than 170 years of being subtenant on several addresses, the Library finally received its permanent address on March 26, 2019 – Sinđelićeva 24. Thanks to the appropriate space, the Library is able to fully present its contents and work on forming new segments. This time, we will open the door of only one part of the ”Vladislav Petković Dis” City Library treasure.

SCRAPBOOK OF MARIJA PANDUROVIĆ

Already in school, we have learned about the life and work of Serbian poet Vladislav Petković Dis (Zablaće near Čačak, 1880 – Ionian Sea, 1917), important and sad. We remember that he boarded the ”Italy” steamboat in France, which disappeared in the waves forever on March 29 of the war year of 1917, hit by a torpedo on its way to Greece. (…) The poet’s entire earthly legacy, as well as the body of the drowned, were returned to the sea. According to the testimonies of his friends from exile, as well as his fellow passengers, the poet always carried with him a small notebook with verses, which were washed by waves and which will never be published. Rare yellow family photos were preserved in the albums of Dis’ sister Ružica and the heirs of Dis’ wife Tinka, who spent the last decades of her life in Loznica. However, neither Dis’ widow nor his early and tragically deceased children or their relatives, even friends with whom he shared enthusiasms and disappointments, managed to preserve a single text written by the poet’s hand at the time of general chaos. For a long time, it was considered that the only handwritten legacy of Vladislav Petković Dis consists of twelve poems in the Manuscript Department of Matica Srpska and several postcards.
Thanks to dedicated research of bibliographers and literary historians, particularly librarians of the City Library of Čačak, thanks to ”Dis’ Spring” event and the accompanying herald with the same name, mistakes copied from edition to edition of his books of poetry were corrected and numerous blanks in the poet’s biobibliography were filled. Original specimens of two Dis’ collections (Drowned Souls, 1911 and We’re Waiting for the Emperor, 1913) were obtained for the Heritage Department of the Čačak Library, rare photographs and letters were copied, memories and oral testimonies about him, but the institution named after Vladislav Petković Dis in 1998 did not have a single object or autograph of the poet until 2018. That year, an extraordinary artefact was purchased from Srđan V. Stojančev, prominent Serbian bibliophile, journalist and researcher: a scrapbook that belonged to Marija Mara Pandurović, sister of poet Simo Pandurović, close friend of Dis. The scrapbook includes texts written by Dis in 1908.
Stojančev was struck by luck. In a 13,5 x 21 cm notebook, bound in pale green linen with floral ornaments and Cyrillic title Poetry, among well-intended writings and wishes of other acquaintances and friends of the beautiful girl from the Pandurović family, he discovered a somewhat mysterious, melancholic, yet consoling dedication on page 22, written in pencil and signed by Dis’ name: ”All my wishes, Mara, are in your head: whatever you do you have done and… it will pass; everything will pass. One more thing, everything will be forgotten…”
However, the notebook with the writing of her brother Sima’s friend, with whom he spent many hours preparing the issues of the short-lived magazine Literary Week, hid an even more valuable inscription: on pages 52 and 53, in black ink, probably while visiting the Pandurović family, Dis wrote a seven verses poem entitled Beauty. He signed it with his famous pseudonym in Latin letters, which additionally infuriated critics already outraged because of the poet’s pessimism and resignation. This handwritten version, with evident traces of the creative process, is one verse longer than the poem published in magazines and books under the name Introduction to a Legend ”Beauty”. Stojančev confirmed the authenticity of the handwriting. Together with a few newly discovered photos, he published it in the book of Dis’ poems, issued by the Serbian Bibliophile Association.
Today, this notebook, originally intended to be a personal memory of the youth of a girl from Belgrade, is kept as particularly valuable in the Heritage Department of the Čačak Library. It was presented to the Čačak public for the first time on March 26, 2019, at the opening ceremony of the new edifice of the oldest cultural institution in Čačak. This symbolically denied Dis’ words from the scrapbook – that everything will pass and be forgotten.

MEMORIAL ROOM OF SINIŠA PAUNOVIĆ

Exactly two decades ago, within ”Dis’ Spring”, the City Library in Čačak opened a memorial room with the legacy of Siniša Paunović, journalist, writer, translator. The family of this famous reporter and editor of Politika gifted part of its library consisting of about 1.500 books, as well as his rich heritage: manuscripts of published and unpublished works, correspondence with numerous writers, local and foreign, artists and other cultural workers, a collection of photos (3.800) and manuscripts of different authors, paintings, exotic objects from his travels, desk, typewriters from various periods of his work.
Paunović published an interesting book in 1958, Writers Close-Up, presenting Veljko Petrović, Stevan Jakovljević, Isak Samokovlija, Branislav Nušić, Borisav Stanković and Anton Gustav Matoš. The book received positive reviews, and Mladen Oljača noted: ”Paunović was able to select dramatic and crucial moments from the life and works of mentioned authors and present them skillfully and impressively.” The book Following Traces of Their Childhood, including portraits of twenty prominent authors, such as PjerKrižanić, Veljko Petrović, Toma Rosandić, Ivo Andrić… was similarly received. He also wrote wonderful texts in the Drainac, Poet and Bohemian publication, which shed light on a picturesque poetic personality. Based on newspaper texts, he published the book Bora Stanković and Branislav Nušić Behind the Curtain in 1985. Five publications of documentary prose about writers, actors and other artists are the peak of Paunović’ literary work.
Since Siniša Paunović was very attracted by the world of art upon his arrival in Belgrade, he attempted to follow their creative work. Being a journalist, he met most of them personally, made efforts to write down conversations with them, and later included some of them in the mentioned books. Besides the published ones, there are many unpublished manuscripts, created based on notes in his diary. The most voluminous among them are notes about Ivo Andrić, Veljko Petrović, Isidora Sekulić, correspondence with Desanka Maksimović, about social and state circumstances, as well as the heritage legacy – monasteries in the Ovčar and Kablar Gorge.
In his correspondence, Paunović was exchanging information about contemporary literary movements, common acquaintances, situation in culture, personal problems, thoughts. Some present a very intensive and personal correspondence, some only business, while sometimes Siniša uses a sharper tone when addressing.
The Čačak Library took the obligation to preserve the memory of this author and, if possible, publish his manuscripts. Books published up to now include Priseni edited by Radovan M. Marinković (2003), When Kamilavkions Were Flying (2006), Fulfilled Life – biobibliography of Siniša Paunović written by Marija Orbović, librarian consultant. (…)
Paunović thus returned to his homeland, which he departed almost a century ago.

BRANKO V. RADIČEVIĆ’ LIBRARY

With his life, literary opus, renaissance spirit and Antaeus’ strength, as well as his entire cultural zeal, Branko V. Radičević (Čačak, May 14, 1925 – Belgrade, January 11, 2001) left a deep trace in the second half of the 20th century as a poet, prose writer, essayist, author for children, anthologist, journalist, excellent expert in Serbian language, folk life and customs, cultural and sports worker, participant and witness of important events. With his entire work, for which he had been awarded with prominent awards, he testified that inspiration does not need to be sought in the world, and that it is sufficient to look oneself into the eyes and gaze into what is disappearing while passing by us. Born in Čačak, in the Ivanjica Alley, where he often returned to for inspiration, Radičević was ready to initiate and support ideas from his homeland: he was one of the founders of the Guča Trumpet Festival (1961) and initiator of the poetry event ”Dis’ Spring” in Čačak (1964)… ”Whatever he had touched, he reminded us where we were, if we were what we thought we were, and indicated where we would go, if we wanted to”, wrote the recently deceased writer Milovan Vitezović about his work.
Attempting to follow Radičević’ legacy reduced into a thought that ”homeland is the highest point of the world”, the Čačak Library organized numerous literary programs in the past decades dedicated to the creative work of this writer, whose name was written in 1976 in a series of winners of the Plaque with Dis’ image (present Dis’ Award). A scientific meeting Branko V. Radičević’ Poetry was organized on the 90th anniversary of the poet’s birth, on May 14, 2015, in cooperation with the Institute of Literature and Art from Belgrade, accompanied by a collection of works with the same name. Two years later, as a joint publication of Čačak and Guča libraries, a book of selected Radičević’ poems Eternal Infantry and Similar Poems was published, edited by Dragan Hamović, PhD.
In order to preserve, make available and enable further studies of Branko V. Radičević’ work, his heirs and librarians from Čačak made a joint effort to permanently move the poet’s legacy from the family apartment in Glasinačka Street in Belgrade to the newly constructed building of the ”Vladislav Petković Dis” City Library in Čačak. The agreement was signed on May 21, 2021 by the poet’s sons Radomir and Rastko Radičević and grandson Branko Tepavac, son of the poet’s deceased daughter Kosara, on behalf of the family. About 3.500 books, magazines, pictures, manuscripts, furniture and poet’s personal objects were transferred… In early 2022, the processing of this voluminous and diverse material began. Besides Radičević’ original works and translations of his works, the poet’s personal library included a number of rare editions, such as publications with dedications of prominent authors, with whom Radičević was friend for many years, as well as a significant number of editions on which he left a recognizable artistic trace. The arranged and processed library, as well as the non-literary material, will represent an ultimate source for a thorough perception of Branko V. Radičević’ opus, the unruled poetic nature, deeply rooted in tradition and with a visionary gaze into the upcoming times.

FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHTNESS

After moving to the new building, new possibilities opened up for the ”Vladislav Petković Dis” City Library. The spaces intended for cultural, educational and program activities were specially visually decorated with works of art. Some people gifted or lent valuable artworks to the Library. Since 2019, in agreement with the Cultural Home of Čačak, 23 paintings have been decorating the Library walls. Motifs of old and modern Čačak, the most important cultural and historical monuments, abstract details, colorful compositions with nature motifs… An important segment of the visual decoration was done thanks to the ”Nadežda Petrović” Art Gallery in Čačak. Valuable works of the local and internationally acknowledged painter Bogić Risimović Risim, as well as other famous painters from entire Serbia, have temporarily found its place in the oldest cultural institution in Čačak.
Heritage painter and art pedagogue Branislav Branko Trifunović (Gornji Milanovac, 1938 – Čačak, 2022) gave his painting Document as a gift to the Library before passing away. This painter with a refined lyrical sensibility, winner of significant awards, spent his career as art pedagogue in Čačak. His canvas, created in combined technique, was inspired by the book The Rocky Path of Serbia.
Milivoje Minja Marić (1940–2018), academic painter from Čačak, achieved a fruitful opus in his city. Siniša Marić, painter’s brother, gifted his painting Ascension towards the Unattainable to the Library. A small sculpture of Dis, also created by Minja Marić, is the ownership of the Library.
Master of the game on the traces of light, visual artist from Čačak Božidar Plazinić decided to, upon consulting with experts from ”Nadežda Petrović” Gallery, put the Trace of Light III from 1992/93, a work of art impressive both by its dimensions and quality, in the Grand Hall of the Library. Plazinić exhibits in eminent galleries in Serbia and abroad, he won numerous awards and recognitions, and carries the status of prominent artist since 2001.

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People
This text in ”National Review” was made thanks to the knowledge and efforts of Olivera Nedeljković, Tanja Vuković, Marija Radulović, Vladimir Simić… They are part of the team of ”Vladislav Petković Dis” Library in Čačak, led by director Bogdan Trifunović, PhD. We thank them all.

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Perhaps She’s Dreaming
There are several more valuable works of art, ownership of the Library, including the sculpture ”Ivo Andrić” made by Zoran Ivanović (created in the 1980s in the studio of Žika Maksimović) and self-portrait of painter Milena Čubraković. Also decorating the Library are works of artist Vesna Petrović, as well as ”Perhaps She’s Dreaming” created by visual artist Grujica Lazarević.