NUMBER 6 |
FORUM
DANILO KI©: On Nationalism
This article, which aroused a lot of controversy,
attempts to analyse group and individual forms of
nationalism.
ALEKSANDER FIUT: To be (or not to be) a
Central-European
The author, a historian and literary critic from
Jagiellonian University, analyses the notion of Central
Europe and its connotations in the works of modern
writers. Trying to tell the Centraleuropean literature
from the others, he notices these characteristics:
"unaccepted provinciality, the sense of border
instability and problematic identity."
BOGDAN BOGDANOVIĆ: The Ritual Killing of a City.
Conflicting Memories.
A philosophical reflection by a well-known Yugoslavian
architect and writer concerning the barbarian destruction
of the cities of former Yugoslavia. "The civilised
world will sooner or later shrug their shoulders thinking
about our mutual killings. (...) But they will never
forgive us the devastated cities. We - just us, the
Serbian side - will be remembered as city destroyers - as
neo-Huns."
THE VICIOUS CIRCLE OF NATIONAL EGOISMS
Ryszard Bilski interviews Prof. Henryk Batowski, a
distinguished historian, retired lecturer of Jagiellonian
University, on the sources of the Yugoslavian conflict.
WRITERS IN WARTIME
The record of a heated debate caused by the interview
with ALE(c) DEBELJAK, a Slovene poet and literary critic,
published in the Belgrade weekly "Vreme"
towards the end of 1995. His polemic with intellectuals
of former Yugoslavia (M. Prodanović, Z. Milutinović, D.
Velikić, T. Varadi, M. Jergović, M. Dordević) concerns
the attitude of writers towards the war, their
participation in public and national affairs, and
nationalism as well as chances of cultural development in
the newly created states.
TO UNDERSTAND BOSNIA
A selection of texts from the seminar to have been
organised by "Borderland Foundation" in Sejny
in autumn 1995.
MARINA TRUMIĆ: To Understand Bosnia
A writer and journalist from Sarajevo, at present working
at the Slavic Philology Institute of Warsaw University;
with the readers she shares her poetic reflection after
the meeting in Sejny and the Wigry monastery.
RAYMOND REHNICER: The Definite End of
the Middle Ages
The title "end of the Middle Ages" in the
author's opinion is the moment of the homogenisation of
the multicultural community of Bosnia. According to him,
the multiculturalism of the region is not "a sign of
something that will come to life as a result of a
(doubtful) exhaustion of a national state, but a remnant
of that what the national state destroyed in the bloody
process of getting established."
ALEKSANDRA STANKOWICZ: The Role of Austria in
shaping Bosnia and Herzegovina's culture and literary
life
Contemplations on the role of Austria in the cultural
development of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the context of
the political situation in the period from 1878 to 1914.
MARIA BOBROWNICKA: In the World
Dominated by Fear. The systems of values and defensive
tactics.
"It is our world that has been dominated by fear
from both the sides - from the outside, by its inhumane
reality, and from the inside, since philosophy discovered
the horror of existentialism."
This statement comes forth as a result of the analysis of
the attitudes and works of two Bosnian
writers-existentialists: Ivo Andrić and Me±a
Selimović.
MILETA PRODANOVIĆ: Bridges and hatred
The Old Bridge in Mostar spanning the Muslim bank with
the Croat one as a metaphor being a starting point for
the contemplation of new forms of the Balkan nations'
integration.
SARAJEVO
BOGDAN BOGDANOVIĆ (A Man - Sarajevo, A
letter to my Sarajevo Friends), Dawid Warszawski
(Sarajevo), Raymond Rehnicer (My Memories of Sarajevo)
and Nikola Kovać (Culture versus Barbarism) interpret -
each one in his own way - the city's sumptuous heritage
of the past and its present tragedy. They invite us to
peregrinate around in this city labyrinth, city treasury,
city cemetery...
SURVIVAL GUIDE for Sarajevo being in the grip of
war by independent company of producers "FAMA"
(among others the organiser of many cultural projects in
besieged Sarajevo). The guide has perversely been
prepared to resemble the famous guide series Michelin. It
teaches how to survive in the town besieged by modern
Huns, in which there is a lack of water, electricity,
food, but there is enough of genius of resourcefulness in
a man, enough of urge to survive and sense of humour.
FLORY JAGODA: The Songs of Sarajevo
The songs by Flory Jagoda, mostly traditional Bosnian
sevdalinkas, introduce the listeners into the world of
Sephardic Jews, which is full of nostalgia, respect for
tradition and longing for love.
MOSTAR
JENS SCHNEIDER: The Bridge
The bridge to have been constructed in 1566 over river
Neretva by master Hajruddin ordered by Turkish sultan
Suleiman, had soon become one of the most renowned
structures in the Balkans. It is just the bridge that has
lent its name to the Herzegovinian capital. According to
the author "the day on which it [the bridge] was
destroyed was the day of death for the city".
HANS KOSCHNICK: The Diary from Mostar
Hans Koschnick, former administrator of Mostar on behalf
of EU tells about problems, chances and threats
accompanying the European administration's operation in
Bosnia and Herzegovina embroiled in war. My task is to
make people talk to one another again, to make them come
into contact - "I cannot accomplish this sitting in
my office or travelling in the city in a car with
bullet-proof windows".
CHRISTOPHER MERILL: The Old Bridge
To the question: "Who were the people who did not
need the bridge in Mostar?" the author gives the
answer: "The people who do not believe in future.
The text is a journalist report from destroyed
Mostar".
TADEUSZ MAZOWIECKI: Mostar
A fragment of the report of 19 May 1993 on the situation
in Mostar by a Special Envoy of the UN Human Rights
Commission.
KRZYSZTOF CZYŻEWSKI: Mostar
A poem inspired by the author's stay in Mostar during
the war.
DARIA SITO SUCIĆ: Disunited Colours of Mostar
An attempt to analyse the complicated situation of Muslim
and Croat communities in Mostar.
GRADIMIR GOJER: The Theatre Sketches
A reflective account of a stay in war-time Mostar of the
Chamber Theatre'55 from Sarajevo. The author is a
director, theatre critic, university lecturer as well as
the manager and artistic director of the Chamber
Theatre'55; he was born in Mostar.
THE CHRONICLES OF A CITY
The record of the events in Mostar - from 1440, when the
first chain bridge was erected, until now.
THE LITERARY CORNER
Poems: IZET SARAJLIĆ - one of the most popular
Bosnian poets; ALE© DEBELJAK - a Slovene poet, cultural
sociologist, working at the university in Ljubljana;
ANDREJ BRVAR - a poet, the editor of the Slavic
literature department in the publishing house
"Obzorja" in Maribor; BORIS NOVAK - a poet,
playwright, translator of English and French literature;
the chairman of the Slovene PEN-Club; ZEHRA CIRAK - a
poet born in Istanbul, at present living in Germany.
Prose: MILJENKO JERGOVIĆ - horrifying short stories by a
writer from Sarajevo, who now lives in Croatia, which
come from the selection the Sarajevo Marlboro, the
prize-winner of the Award of Croat Writers Association;
JOVICA AĆIN - a Serbian poet, essayist, translator and
publisher; "Szklarek" comes from his most
recent selection "Obsessions and related
stories": "Leptirov sanovnik" (The
dream-book of a butterfly); ZDRAVKO MALIĆ - a Croatian
writer born in Bosnia, literary historian, the author of
innovative dissertations on literature by Gombrowicz and
Krleµa, the editor of the periodical "Kniµevna
smotra"; JASMIN IMAMOVIĆ - a member of the party of
Tuzla's mayor, Selim Beslagić, which is perceived as
the most democratic political party in Bosnia and the
opposition to the governing, national SDA; he co-operates
with the group of authors "Erupta saliniana".
The short story to be presented comes from his debut
selection "Ubijanje smrti" (The killing of
death, Tuzla 1994); VLADIMIR ARSENIJEVIĆ - one of the
most distinguished representatives of the young Serbian
literature, whose novel is the winner of many prizes and
translated into many languages, and is perceived as the
best example of existential form the young Belgrade
intelligentsia is in.
Drama
LESZEK A. MOCZULSKI - My silence is greeting Yours. A
radio-play by the outstanding poet from Cracow.
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