Sreten Asanović, Nomina, Plima, Ulcinj, 2011
By: Ivana Ančić
English version will be available soon.
Ajla Terzić: It Could Have Been a Simple Story (Rende, Belgrade, 2011)
By: Leda Sutlović
Ajla Terzić’s novel talks about finding happiness and meaning of life for a generation of thirty-somethings, represented by the unconventional voice of the main character, Esma. In the context of pop culture, popular lyrics, sexual identities, transition in the Balkans, modern technologies, cynicism and irony, the novel sheds some light on the problems of a very specific generation. The protagonist is old enough to remember the war, exile and poverty, but also young enough to get information about socialism from others while enjoying her sophisticated gadgets and fusion food. She is part of a generation that is trying to make a life for themselves somewhere in between, at a mystic crossing where the roasted piglet and iPhone meet. The unlucky ones who cannot do that, are trying to find an answer to the old question – should I stay or should I go.
Banana peel in the closet
Esma belongs to the unlucky ones, she is a young woman who is leading a dull life, according to her own standards, and she used to believe in the power of a fatal encounter that would change everything when she was younger. Although she has had relationships with men, Esma falls in love with Roza. The problems that the novel is based on are questioning of sexual identity, where to settle and with whom. The gay issue exposes a claustrophobic situation and the difficulty of the decision Esma has to make, as well as the social gap, at home and abroad. Outside her home country, there are gay-friendly maps of the city, gay magazines and similar editions that can be found right next to city guides, while at home, gay activists are still hiding in attics. Their numbers are small, they are closer to each other than to their own families, given that they rarely communicate, if at all, and they cope with their difficulties using dark humour – putting up x-rays of their broken bones to show the consequences of their coming out. Witty conversation between gay activists is actually depressing, because a lack of perspective is underlined by the fact that not even the liberal politicians are willing to stand up for them. In a country where members of one nation destroy the other nation’s graves, the “liberals” consider the whole gay issue as extremely premature.
The relationship between the two young women is far from perfect, it is full of tension, jealousy and mistrust. Although she is head over heels in love, due to constant doubt and questioning, Esma keeps in touch with Meša, which is particularly interesting and provides contrast between straight and gay experience. She notices that she behaves entirely different in each of the relationships. When she is with Roza, she does not feel the need to reject her help, get the check or refuse her hospitality in order to preserve a certain degree of integrity, which happens when she is in a relationship with a man. When she is with Roza, she is more direct and more open, because such a relationship does not presuppose emancipation since both partners are equal from the get-go.
Quicksand of gender territory
Social pressure on women who reach eligible marrying age is excellently portrayed through Esma’s relationship with Meša. With respect to the traditional understanding of good marriage material, finding the perfect home and finally doing the best thing that could happen to a woman, Esma’s family sets her up with Meša, a model and a true catch, a dentist with more than acceptable income, who offers her marriage as a business proposal, and then gives her the freedom to choose the new tiles and floor panels. Although she knows perfectly well that he is not the right person for her, she considers his offer until the last moment. The issue of the traditional perception of life surpasses the gay issue and turns into a cultural issue about acceptable life choices and shaping your own destiny in a specific geographical area.
Highly utilitarian, the traditional point of view is represented by two characters, a dentist and a doctor, and both of them will suffer the consequences of their objective-oriented, purposeful behaviour. Meša, the dentist, works day and night in his high tech office to refurbish his fancy, luxurious apartment and to put Esma in it, or any other woman. Dada, the doctor, Esma’s college roommate, is a wife and mother living in Graz, who sees life as paying off her debts, taking care of her children and worrying about tomorrow. In opposition, there is Esma’s friend Ismar or Iki, a man who desperately wants to become a theatre director, only to become a soldier in Afghanistan, with an explanation that: “It’s just that I gave up on the hope that something will happen and knock my socks off. That something will happen that would change my life for good. The only way to change your life around here is to go away.” The three characters are great representatives of their generation and the choices they have in a post-conflict world – to work all day like Meša, thinking material well-being and private retreat can give them happiness; to emigrate to a nearby country like Dada, leading a monotonous, bourgeois life in a mixed marriage or to escape from it all like Iki did.
What would you do if you were me
The question remains: did society make them passive or is inertia the consequence of their own passivity? All these generational issues pose many more questions about changing society, its conservatism, a society in which the consensus on fundamental issues is so frail and all the energy focused on maintaining the status quo. By exposing a love affair that provokes contradictory reaction as a mirror to society, the author identifies social flaws and paints a picture that is not exceptionally easy on the eyes. This generation is the one that has suffered the most damage, they are the ones with a schizophrenic experience of going through too much during a very brief time period, from war and humanitarian aid, to internet and sushi, being unable to fit into society, and finding it even harder to say goodbye.
The chapters are named after popular songs by the band Bijelo dugme (White Button), and kind of situate the whole story where it belongs, to a country where the couple in love is from, creating a framework for contemplating a world in which Esma would not have to think about moving away. In that kind of a world, the title of the novel would not be bitterly ironic, and the story could actually be simple.
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.