Sreten Asanović, Nomina, Plima, Ulcinj, 2011
By: Ivana Ančić
English version will be available soon.
Oleg Tomić: Hurt (AGORA, Zrenjanin, 2011)
By: Ivan Telebar
Although Oleg Tomić has written a collection of poems, a book of short stories and three novels, Hurt seems like the first novel of an author who is not exactly sure what he wants to achieve with his text. It is a mixture of intrigues and psychological portraits that tell a love story, as the author himself defines in the subtitle. But it is hard to claim that it speaks of a love story, more of fixations that generate other (romantic and mystical) episodes. All that can be found of romance, is the intensive preoccupation of a deranged mind in a body of a mysterious woman.
The centre of the novel is the life story of Branislav Županski, i.e. the confessions of his trauma. It is set in a narrative frame from which Županski speaks, from a time distance, like a voice on a movie trailer that uses unclear indications to interest the audience. With this thriller-like modus operandi, he drags us into a vortex of his own personal tragedy. He details the tragedy to members of a certain Aid Association, whose coordinator Andrej Bajkal also calls the Trauma Hunters Group. Županski is persuaded by his friend Pavle to join the group, where he bares his sole in font of a complete stranger and his mysterious group. With an undefined name and with an undefined obsession for human traumas, Bajkal’s group functions as a fictional element in the novel with no intention to become a fictional novel. The text is more like a psychological novel, due to numerous introspective descriptions of the main character. It can also be defined as a thriller, for the way the text is presented to the reader, and because of some bizarre motives, amongst which one stands out.
Much Ado About Nothing
Trauma stands out as the word, and it is used to emphasise the rest of author’s discourse. But what is the real trauma of Branislav Županski? He is haunted by a memory of Kim Vrangel, who he met while mountain climbing in Italy, and whose favourite hobby is killing climbers on steep climbs. His ‘’trauma’’ is indirect. Županski feels anxiety because he finds out that an unknown and very attractive woman kills climbers in her spare time using natural traps of the most dangerous mountain tops. Maybe it is disturbing and unusual, but it is a bit over the top to use such a situation as a cause for trauma. The ‘’build-up“ to Županski’s secret is very long and it prepares the reader for various raw endings. It seems that Tomić took on too much when he decided to write a text that at the same time, has an attractive plot and offers elaborate psychological analysis of its characters.
The author gave most of his attention to relationships between the characters. The character of Kim Vrangel is the central intersection of Županski’s and Bajkal’s lives. She is the femme fatale who gets the idea to kill climbers on the snowy slopes after an unsuccessful climb and the men she enchants become part of her enterprise. Kim is Bajkal and Županski’s mutual obsession, which leads them to the edge of a psychological breakedown. Both of them are trapped in constant inner struggle between the fascination with the woman and the loathing of her inhumane pastime. They both come from destroyed families which is the real cause of their emotional instability and pliability. Their psychological profiles are well written, but there are some details left unclear. For instance, Županski is presented as the ‘’ex-playwright of the Atelier 212’’, a very detailed description that has no function in the text. Bajkal’s relationship towards his homeland remains unclear, for there are no hints as to why he hates Russia so much. There is one very interesting moment between the two characters that really stands out. Bajkal concludes that ‘’due to everything they have been through, the Serbs could have closed themselves off and become evil’’, to which Županski answers that the problem is the long negative perception of the Serbian nation. This episode is in the middle of the text and has no clear motive, so we could interpret it as a penetration of the author’s instance. Tomić clearly felt the need to speak his mind on the history of the Serbian nation.
In the Mud of Mediocrity
One of not so many virtues of this text is its narrative structure, i.e. the shifts in focalisation that set the dynamics of the text and save the entire novel. The storytellers through the text are Županski, Bajkal and Kim Vrangel, each of them retelling the root of their trauma. Such polyphony functions very well in the text, because each storyteller slowly uncovers its own point of view. The down-side is that all of the voices are neutral, no storyteller has their trademark. We would expect to find elements of their traumas in their storyteller discourse, but there are none to be found.
The novel failed in most of the literary elements. The unusual starting point, the shallow psychological characterisation and the lack of systematisation of literary procedures have brought this novel down to the level of a half-product. The text does not even communicate to the ex-literary reality, because climbing really is an extreme sport. The scenery seems unconvincing and neutral, and climbing could have easily been replaced with a game of darts. Everything that caught the author’s attention is not really successful. The mysterious Trauma Hunters are ‘’wannabe’’ psychotherapists gathered around the charismatic Russian, the traumas are reduced to love of a psychologically deviant woman, and her criminal intent does not seem convincing. The end lacks the point which we would expect to find, because Županski’s voice in the introduction announces what is to come with such mystery, the epilogue lacks the answers and is only linked to the framed text. In the end, the readers might feel hurt, so if you go for this book, keep your expectations low, or else you will be swallowed up under an avalanche of disappointment.
Sreten Asanović, Nomina, Plima, Ulcinj, 2011
By: Ivana Ančić
English version will be available soon.
OSMI I SEDMI PUTNIK, Aleksandar Bjelogrlić, Citadela, Agora, Zrenjanin, 201
By: Dalibor Plečić
English version will be available soon.
Stjepan Gulin, Paz’te sad, paz’te sad (Meandarmedia, Zagreb, 2011.)
Authors: Ivana Ančić
Igor Marojević, Kroz glavu (Dosije, Beograd, 2012.)
Author: Dalibor Plečić
Damir Miloš, Pisa. Povratak (Meandarmedia, Zagreb, 2011.)
Author: Morena Livaković
POLITIČKE I DRUŠTVENE KONSTRUKCIJE IDENTITETA U VIDEO-PERFORMANSIMA NA BEOGRADSKOJ SCENI 1970-ih
Esej Vladimira Bjeličića
Esej u celini možete pročitati na portalu SEEcult.org
Esej Tihane Bertek
Od promatrača do sudionika
GALERIJA KAPELICA I POST-JUGOSLAVENSKI BODY ART (1995–2010)
Esej – Bojan Krištofić
Esej o radovima Šejle Kamerić, Maje Bajević i Nebojše Šerića Shobe
Piše: Slađana Golijanin
ESEJ – Razvaline socijalizma kao inspiracija za muzejske eksponate Mrđana Bajića i skulpturalne dosetke Ivana Fijolića
By: Milena Milojević
Piše: Nino Kovačić
Gostujuća izvedba šibenskog HNK, Pir malograđana, prema tekstu mladog Bertolda Brechta (napisan 1919.) izvedena je po sljedećoj formuli: na Danima satire u satiričkom kazalištu Kerempuh gledamo satiričan komad. Prema reakcijama publike, bila je uspješna, ali teško se oteti dojmu da je smijeh bio formulaično zagarantiran, jer bi takav instruirani moment humora trebao zauzdati spontani smijeh. Je li se možda radilo o “malograđanskom” humoru?
Glumice i to, KNAP, Zagreb, premijera 12.5.2012.
Piše: Nino Kovačić
Glumice i to, nova predstava u zagrebačkom KNAP-u, neobičan su kazališni ‘slučaj’. Naime, predstavu su, dramaturški i režijski osmislile te, naravno, glumački ostvarile četiri mlade glumice. U trenutačnoj opće-društvenoj, pa tako i kazališnoj situaciji, kojom prijete olovni pojmovi poput recesije, prekarijata i outsourcinga (nedavno su najavljena i otpuštanja “hladnopogonskih” glumaca), one su, kako piše u najavi “nezaposlene i pune entuzijazma, odlučile su preuzeti stvar u svoje ruke i napraviti hit!”. Očito sklone postdramskom pristupu izvedbi koji se, između ostalog, bazira na ekipnoj work-in-progress metodi, izvedbenoj anti-iluziji i autoreferencijalnosti, glumice/autorice su se “trgnule” i napravile parodiju o tome kako rade predstavu, po ironičnom ključu: kad ne ide pravljenje predstave treba napraviti predstavu o tome kako se ne može raditi predstava.
“Nije život biciklo”, Biljana Srbljanović, režija: Anselm Veber, Produkcija: Šaušpilhaus Bohum, Nemačka; Sterijino pozorje 2012, selekcija Nacionalne drame i pozorišta
By: Tamara Baračkov
English version will be available soon.
„Grebanje, ili kako se ubila moja baka“, Tanja Šljivar, režija: Selma Spahić, Bosansko narodno pozorište Zenica/Bitef teatar-Hartefakt (Beograd), premijera: 7. septembar 2012. (Zenica), 11. oktobar 2012. (Beograd)
By: Tamara Baračkov
English version will be available soon.
„Sluga dvaju gospodara“, Karlo Goldoni, režija: Boris Liješević, Grad teatar Budva/Srpsko narodno pozorište Novi Sad/Narodno pozorište „Toša Jovanović“ Zrenjanin, premijera: 27. jul 2012.
By: Tamara Baračkov
English version will be available soon.