Miodrag Škundrić August 4, 2023
Renowned Pančevac, patriot, doctor of science, liberal, poet, diplomat, journalist, Yugoslav. Milan Ćurčin, a Serbian writer, was born in Pančevo on November 14, 1880, and died in Zagreb on January 20, 1960. He completed his studies in Germanistics and Slavic Studies, earning his doctorate in 1905 in Vienna. From 1914 to 1941, he served as a lecturer at the University of Belgrade. During the First World War, he was a member of the Yugoslav Committee in London. After the war, he moved to Zagreb, where from 1920 to 1941, he was the publisher and editor of the magazine “Nova Evropa.” In 1950, he briefly worked as an editor at the Miroslav Krleža Lexicographic Institute in Zagreb.
As a poet, Ćurčin stood out as a modernist and was among the pioneers of free verse in Serbian poetry. His verses were characterized by a conversational and humorous tone, as well as prose conciseness, which parodied the formal rigidity and grandeur of symbolic phrases. In his journalistic and editorial career, Ćurčin demonstrated a broad education and deep insight, emphasizing a liberal concept of society and culture. (Croatian Encyclopedia).
Childhood
Milan Ćurčin’s father, Vasa Ćurčin, was a wealthy merchant and co-owner of the then-famous trading company “Ćurčin and Stojanović.” The famous playwright Branislav Nušić was sent by his father Đorđe Nuša to learn the trade at Vasa Ćurčin’s firm. However, instead of becoming a merchant, Branislav Nušić became a luminary of Serbian literature.
It seems that Vasa Ćurčin influenced the boys of that time to turn to the literary arts rather than commerce. Therefore, Milan, his son, followed that path and achieved fame. Milan completed primary school in Pančevo and attended high school in Novi Sad, where he studied under Jovan Grčić.
Academic Life
Milan Ćurčin enrolled in Germanistics and Slavic Studies in 1900 in Vienna. Four years later, he earned his doctorate with a thesis titled “Serbian Folk Poetry in German Literature.” This thesis was published in Leipzig and translated into Serbian in 1987 to commemorate the bicentennial of Vuk Karadžić’s birth.
From 1906 to 1914, Milan Ćurčin was a lecturer in the Department of German Language and Literature at the University of Belgrade. During this time, he also published and edited two volumes of the Serbo-Croatian Almanac (Belgrade-Zagreb).
Diplomacy and Translation
During the First World War, he was a member of the Yugoslav Committee in London, where he promoted Yugoslav interests. During his stay in London, he collaborated with Robert Smith Watson, a British political activist and historian who played an active role in encouraging the breakup of Austria-Hungary and the emergence of Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia during and after the First World War.
During the Second World War, he spent time in Split, where he engaged in translation from German into English, French, Romanian, Czech, and Italian. In the 1950s, he worked as an editor at the Lexicographic Institute in Zagreb.
Journalistic and Publishing Work
Milan Ćurčin was the founder and editor of the magazine “Nova Evropa,” which was published in Zagreb from 1920 to 1941. The magazine dealt with all societal issues and was intended for politically unaffiliated liberal intellectuals of Yugoslav orientation.
The inspiration for launching such a magazine came from the similarly named “The New Europe” magazine, edited and published by Robert Seton Watson, driven by the idea of the necessity of democratic reorganization in Europe.
Poems and Literary Criticism
In our literature, Ćurčin appeared at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, immediately after Vojislav Ilić. He was a contemporary of Milan Rakić, Jovan Dučić, and Vladislav Petković Dis.
He published his poems, literary studies, and criticisms in “Carigradski glasnik,” “Srpski književni glasnik,” “Srjemske novine,” and many others.
Milan Ćurčin distinguished himself as an exceptional modernist, standing out from his predecessors and contemporaries. In his text “About My Poems,” considered a manifesto of the Modern literary movement, he brought a new understanding of poetry and creativity. This text was published twenty years before similar texts by Miloš Crnjanski and Stanislav Vinaver.
Ćurčin advocated for authenticity in creation and was a representative of the avant-garde, opposing traditionalism and normativism in literature. In his poetry, he initiated a serious discussion on concepts, believing that old forms of poetic expression required reshaping to open the way for progress. Milan Ćurčin’s verses are enriched with humor and contain themes that we encounter everywhere around us.
Message and Legacy
Milan Ćurčin, through his poetry, social engagement, political, and diplomatic work, strived for progress, modernization, and a break from the traditional values of the 19th century that were unable to keep pace with the comprehensive societies that developed at the beginning of the 20th century.
As a representative of civil society, ready to step out of the comfort zone, Milan Ćurčin represented a true figure of the new era.
With his work and enthusiasm, he was a participant and initiator of many ideas and ventures, ready to embrace the new and unknown, regardless of the risks it might bring in the future.
Today’s time, the transition from the 20th to the 21st century, can be characterized as an era of accelerated progress. Technological development has accelerated social processes, and many social circumstances we are experiencing now are similar to those at the beginning of the 20th century. Are we ready to step out of our comfort zone to create something new and unknown?