6. STATUS OF PETRE NAKOVSKI’S WORK IN THE CONTEXT OF MACEDONIAN CRITIQUE AND C

6. STATUS OF PETRE NAKOVSKI’S WORK IN THE CONTEXT OF MACEDONIAN CRITIQUE AND CONTEMPORARY MACEDONIAN LITERATURE

Petre Nakovski started writing when he was a high school student. He published his poems in the emigrant newspaper “Demokrat” in the Macedonian language in Wroclaw, and in the Republic of Macedonia. His first choices of poetry were published in “Sovremenost” (1957) and in “Razgledi” - five poems under one title (1962). After that, he published short stories in the daily press and periodicals (first short story entitled “Taa ne diode” (She did not come) was published in “Nova Makedonija” in 1963).

Petre Nakovski appeared as an author in 1985 with his first published novel “Postela za chemernite” (A bed for the wretched). In 1987 he published his doctorate thesis under the title “Makedonskite detsa vo Polska 1948-1968” (Macedonian children in Poland 1948-1968). In 1988 he published his novel “I kamenot e zemia” (A stone too is soil). In 2003 he published his novel “Golemata udolnitsa” (The great decline), in 2007 he published his novel “Golemata izmama” (The great lie), in 2008 he published a bilingual edition of documents about the Macedonian refugees in Poland 1948-1975 and in 2010 he published his novel “Na pat so vremeto” (On the road of time).

In addition to having the title graduate professor of the Macedonian language, Nakovski is also a doctor of political science. He defended his doctorate thesis, entitled “Makedonskite detsa vo Polska 1948-1968” (Macedonian children in Poland 1948-1968), on November 22, 1985 at the Institute of Political Science at the University “Boleslaw Beirut” in Wroclaw - Poland.

Nakovski has been a member of the Writers’ Association of Macedonia since 1989. He is also a winner of the awards: “Golden Pen” and “Kiril Pejchinovich”.

Seven of Petre Nakovski’s novels, “Postela za chemernite” (A bed for the wretched), “I kamenot e zemia” (A stone too is soil), “Golemata udolnitsa” (The great decline), “Golemata izmama” (The great lie), Na pat so vremeto” (On the road of time), “Kalina” (Kalina) and “Na patot kon nevratot” (On the road of no return) have been translated from Macedonian to English by Risto Stefov from Canada, free of charge, a donation for the Macedonian cause, and are available as e-books for free at this website under Petre Nakovski’s name: http://www.pollitecon.com/html/ebooks/Index.htm

Nakovski was also involved in translating works of literary-historical significance, especially those from Polish to Macedonian, which have added to his special popularity.

In recent years, Nakovski has persistently and consistently worked to affirm Macedonian literature in Poland. He has published translations of poetry from Blazhe Koneski, Slavko Ianevski, Atso Shopov, Mateia Matevski, Ante Popovski, Gane Todorovski, Iovan Pavlovski, Traian Petrovski, as well as from other Macedonian poets, for various Polish literary magazines and periodicals. On several occasions and on his own initiative he has actively participated as a mediator and Polish-Macedonian translator for various monthly literary magazines, which were reciprocally published, including “Sovremenost” and “Kulturen zhivot”.

By his own choice, in 1974, in Krakow, Nakovski published an anthology of Macedonian contemporary poetry entitled “Pesni od Ohrid” (Poems from Ohrid). With his engagement and with his linguistic translations from Macedonian to Polish (philologically edited by many Polish poets), selections of poetry by Blazhe Koneski, Mateia Matevski, Ante Popovski, Petre Bakevski, a panorama of Macedonian poetry entitled “Tsrveni grozdovi” (Red grapes), were published. By his own choice Nakovski also translated a set of poems into Polish, by Rade Silian, entitled “Tragi na vremeto” (Footsteps in time). It is important to mention the fact that Nakovski was both the initiator and mediator in establishing contacts and cooperation between the Macedonian and Polish theatres. It is also important to mention that his translation of the drama “Tsrnila” (Darkness), by Kole Chashule, directed by Liubisha Georgievski at the Vispianski Theatre in Katowice - Poland, was staged in 1973.

Currently Nakovski is still a prolific translator, translating Polish literature into Macedonian. His translation opus includes forty Polish classical works of contemporary Polish literature created by: Mickiewicz, Szenkiewicz, Prus, Zheromski, Raymond, Dombrovska, Gombrowicz, Shimborska, Vojtila (Pope John Paul II), Tvardowski, Ruzhevich (winner of the Golden Wreath at the Struga Poetry Evenings), Mrozhek, Gzheshchal, Herbert and others.

For Nakovski’s overall translation contributions and positive activities, the Polish state has recognized his effort and has awarded him a number of prizes including:

• Order of Merit praiseworthy of contributing to Polish Culture (Ministry of Culture, People’s Republic of Poland, Warsaw, September 29, 1976);

• Honorary decoration from the Association of Polish Authors “ZAIKS” (Warsaw, October 1, 1980);

• Order of Merit - Krzyż Komandorski Orderu Zasługi Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej (Warsaw, September 9, 1999);

• Order “BENE MERITO” (Warsaw, May 12, 2010).

In his rising creative path, Nakovski, with equal dedication, understanding, enthusiasm and charm, devoted himself to the novel, translation, journalism and

diplomacy, and behind him he left works worthy of respect and praise for all Macedonian literature, as well as for its affirmation abroad.

Patient, observant, inquisitive and carried away by the magic of language and the tragedy of historical events, especially the trauma the Greek Civil War left behind, with his literary works, Nakovski has already won a high and deserving place in Macedonian contemporary literature.

Nakovski, a fundamental author of contemporary Macedonian literature, has left an enviable stature of literary expressions, style and literary-historical persuasiveness for which a number of Macedonian literary critics have spoken, including: Dimitar Solev, academic Gane Todorovski, Traian Petrovski, Paskal Gilevski, Branko Tsvetkovski, Eftim Kletnikov, Rade Silian and Petre Bakevski.

About the beginnings of his poetry, in 1962, Professor Gane Todorovski wrote that Nakovski is one of the many Macedonians who were scattered around the world by the whirlwinds of the Greek Civil War when they were children. He and the others wandered around like strangers without a homeland, full of eternal longing and inexhaustible grief for their native soil. Their grief and unfulfilled dreams of returning home were incurable, a living wound in their hearts. He also emphasized:

“The poetry written by this young man is a demonstration of that pain, agitated, sizzling and very current today when, from many sides of the bad neighbourly anti-Macedonian actions, fear is rising like a sinister ghost (...) The fact that a young teacher from Politse in Szczecin, Poland, and many others, made a serious effort to contribute in their (Polish) language and literature, is enough proof of the Macedonian commitment (...)” 199

Professor Gane Todorovski gave Nakovski a high mark for his novel “Postela za chemernite” (A bed for the wretched). Namely, in a note to Nakovski, in part, he wrote:

“Dear friend,

The other day I read your wonderful novel “Postela za chemernite” (A bed for the wretched) and liked the bitterness of the finale!... 200

Professor Gane Todorovski also gave a lecture on the novel “Postela za chemernite” (A bed for the wretched) entitled “Aegean Theme in the Contemporary Macedonian Novel”, held on August 12, 1987, before an audience at the 20th Seminar on the Macedonian Language, Literature and Culture in Ohrid during which, among other things, he expressed the following:

(...) “Bitter and sad is the word in this original prose. It reveals its precious fictional potential again and, as this author’s debut book, it convinces us that this is not

199 Views: “Kon pesnite na Petre Nakovski - Skopje: Nova Makedonija, 1962 p. 561 200 See: Handwritten note from Gane Todorovski to Petre Nakovski, written on January 21, 1986

just an announcement of a new novelist in our literature, but that this is a result that readers with a more refined taste can be satisfied with (...)” 201

In his review of the novel “Postela za chemernite” (A bed for the wretched), Dimitar Solev gave a special overview of the characters who he regarded as narrators. Through the course of their living expression the narrators could multiply whereas the author remained the same, resilient and somewhat hidden.

With the steps taken in his storytelling, in which all the storytellers are accommodated except the author, as a novelist Petre Nakovski has achieved a relatively harmonious system of telling stories. His organized narration has turned to a certain theme and to a certain period of time, connected with a single idea, keeping his novel in a specific compositional consistency (...)

(...) In this, it should be noted that Petre Nakovski is an obvious supporter of “literature of fact”; a tendency in contemporary narrative culture, which requires a new balance between fact and imagination. Information about life has the characteristics of a document or a fact, which allows itself the freedom to arrange, to intertwine, to cross, to combine - everything around the basic idea. But also in “literature of fact”, the fact is the occasion and the author is the creator.

As for the facts, everything seems to be authentic in the novel “Postela za chemernite” (A bed for the wretched), from naming places, through naming time, letters from the soldiers, notes to the exiled, to the names of the people. As for the idea, it is symbolically said in the title itself, and in several other explicit or metaphorical places: “Our people, the Macedonians, have more homelands or at least they fight under other people’s flags” (Nume). “Our stone has rolled away and grass no longer grows on it.” (Pando).

Continuing with the Aegean theme in contemporary Macedonian literature, in his first novel, Petre Nakovski seems to have incorporated his own contribution to its inspiration and value... 202

About the novel “Golemata udolnitsa” (The great decline), under the title Uspeshna epska sinteza (Successful epic synthesis), Professor Gane Todorovski expressed his thoughts about the message in the novel as follows:

“Petre Nakovski’s novel ‘Golemata udolnitsa’ (The great decline) is a terrible allegory for our historical downfall - is it a fall into a metaphorical abyss or just an ugly illusion of a historically frightened people to whom no one has given earnest support, at least not so far ? These are not questions that can arise from panic after a first or second reading of Petre Nakovski’s impressive novel thoughtfully entitled with strict symbolism. A book is good when it will not allow you to sleep peacefully. It is not just the title of the book, but our history is also horrifying, which, as it seems to us, only after reading it

201 DPM: Stezher. - Skopje: RI-Grafika, 2004, p. 42 202 Petre Nakovski: Postela za chemernite. - Skopje: Kultura, 1983

demands, requires, commands a mentality framed in persistent naivety, in a historical curse and in hereditary gambling with happiness. (...) it should be made known that Macedonian contemporary literature in the field of prose fiction has been enriched and has acquired a work of special significance! (...) We have been blessed with a works of fiction that rises to the very top of critical realism in our prose fiction. (...) It is good to read and re-read this novel, this wonderful literary work, loaded with Macedonian illnesses (...). The author’s insight into the Macedonian psychology in Kostur Region is very successful. Nakovski is a subtle observer of the soul and reasoning of our people. The superiority of his narrative grace is complemented by the ability to narrow in one living frame both the irony and the bitterness and the rough truth about the people and the time he describes (...) Petre Nakovski’s novel is a work of gifted and well-prepared text through which he weaves a likable, successful and epic synthesis of literature, journalism and historiography. But this work is not a chronicle; this is a blood cry, perceived by all the senses (like synesthesia) of Macedonia’s pre-death breath (...)

(...) It is good to know that at the end of the novel the author made a remark in italics - instead of a stern warning. He said “this is not the end – that’s right. This is not the end, because the Macedonian darkness has no end.” 203

Branko Tsvetkovski believes that with his novel “Golemata udolnitsa” (The great decline) Petre Nakovski, in a unique way, has harmonized the historical tragedy and real life agony of the Macedonian people in Aegean Macedonia, novelizing the Golgotha and the years of self-sacrifice in the name of freedom, national and individual dignity.

Branko Tsvetkovski singles out this novel as Nakovski’s most successful novel, which abounds in scenes and chronicles of cruelty, violence, dishonesty, humiliation and betrayal... with impressive personal and dramatic events.

“Similarly, this novel is also a replica of the author’s historical massacre that took place in 1948 and 1949, a moral revolt against the “trap” that the pro-communist Greek generals and the then communist states placed on the Aegean Macedonian wanderers, robbing them of their homeland and their altar of autocephaly... ” 204

Branko Tsvetkovski gave Petre Nakovski high marks for his novel “Golemata izmama” (The great lie). Namely, he believes that with this novel Nakovski started a novelist saga about the tragedy of the Macedonian people from the Aegean part of Macedonia, during the Greek Civil War. The novel continues with the severe wound of defeat and glorifies the writer’s courage in discovering the truth. “The novel you have in your hands is a literary continuation of the research in the same historical and residential desolation, in the same national and ideological torment, in the same psychological hearth of the lost and betrayed illusions of the individual...

The pages in this fictional testimony have cemented the knowledge that the DAG communist leaders and the then most influential parties completely manipulated and

203 “Stozher”, DPM, RI-Grafika, Skopje, 2004, p. 44 204 Petre Nakovski: Golemata udolnitsa. -Skopje: Makavej, 2003

shamelessly butchered the Macedonian belief in elementary human and divine will to exist according to the principle of self-determination. Nakovski openly has condemned the historical protagonists of the crimes and has begrudged the nameless warriors who remain in the deep pits of the Aegean soil. The end of this work has announced a new sequel that may complete the most convincing trilogy on this unresolved topic in Macedonian history. 205

In his review of the novel “Na pat so vremeto” (On the road of time), Rade Silian has pointed out that Nakovski’s work is interwoven with his own personal experiences, as well as with testimonies of numerous living witnesses and has covered the time from the end of the Greek Civil War until today. He believes that, with simple descriptions, the author has illustrated the time and people who were forced to leave their homes and, while traveling on various roads, visually and mentally crippled, ask where they were led and where was their homeland. “Through a documentary, Nakovski has illuminated many events and has shown a broad picture of the fateful days and, by weaving the destinies of individuals, has managed to interpret the internal experiences, traumas and sufferings that became a set of collective tragedies.

Here the author talks about the tragic events that relate to the mass expulsions. The clip of disturbing memories shines in this documentary prose, with authentic stories of people who personally experienced the Golgotha of the Greek Civil War.” 206

Much has been written and said about Nakovski and his works in the print, radio and television media. There are excerpts of this preserved in newspapers such as the daily “Vecer” and “Nova Makedonija”, the weekly “Ogledalo”, the magazine “Makedonija” (belonging to the House of Immigrants from Macedonia), the weekly “Ekran”, “Stozher”, “8 Novosti (October 31, 1985)” the newspaper in which the book “Postela za chemernite” (A bed for the wretched) stood out as a bestseller in Skopje, Macedonia, the Serbian newspaper “Borba” (July 6, 1988), the Polish newspaper “Da I ne” (1985) in which a fragment from the novel “Postela za chemernite” (A bed for the wretched) was translated by Eva Svizhevska and published, as well as guest appearances on Radio Skopje and TV Skopje.

Similarly, in an article entitled “Naibarani knigi” (The most popular books… and records), published in the newspaper “Nova Makedonija” on February 18, 1986, the reporter wrote: “Like we were informed in the bookstore, number one on the best sellers list is ‘Postela za chemernite’ (A bed for the wretched) by Petre Nakovski (700 dinars)…” 207

In addition to appearing in print media, Nakovski’s novels have also appeared on the theatre stage.

205 Petre Nakovski: Golemata izmama. - Skopje: Makavej, 2007 206 Petre Nakovski: Na pat so vremeto. - Skopje: Matica Makedonska, 2010 207 See: Nova Makedonija, February 18, 1986

A monodrama play entitled “Egeiska fuga” (Aegean fugue/amnesia) was staged based on Petre Nakovski’s novel “Postela za chemernite” (A bed for the wretched). The monodrama was performed on July 4, 1988 in the “Salon 19.19” theatre in the Centre for Culture and Information building in Skopje, in honour of the event “Sredba na detsata begaltsi od Egeiskiot del na Makedonija” (Meeting of the refugee children from the Aegean part of Macedonia). The actors involved were Vukan Dinevski and Dushko Giorgioski.

On September 11, 1989, at 9:03 pm, the radio drama “Postela za chemernite” (A bed for the wretched), directed by Dushko Giorgioski, was broadcast by Radio Skopje on its first program, starring Vukan Dinevski, Joana Popovska, Petar Arsovski and others.

Source material used in Nakovski’s work can be found in manuscript form preserved in 20 notebooks in which the author has been collecting information for forty years. This includes his thoughts and assessments of the described events; excerpts from military memoirs authored by former DAG and Greek National Army commanders; excerpts from archival materials, notes from conversations with living participants in the described events, etc. This information was the basis of which all the novels were constructed.