The 20th century was a period when culture was important to both individuals and states, literature had a greater social impact, but there were also much fewer media, and because of that, among other things, it was more visible and present. The mass culture that dominates today, with the presence of the Internet and social networks, has changed everything. Some other contents and values have gained importance, and great writers and their books and attitudes are still marginalized today
The end of the year is the time when intense talk about Nino's award for the novel of the year begins. This recognition temporarily increases interest in local writers, and the process of selecting novels, from the broadest, narrowest, and narrowest list, to the final winner, causes ever-increasing attention from the (cultural) public. Although laureates receive instant media fame and the circulation of the winning book increases significantly, apart from rare exceptions such as Milena Marković, Svetislav Basara or Dragan Velikić, this popularity usually fades soon. Despite the great and important authors, it seems that Serbia still has no real literary stars.
On the world literary scene, the concept of "star" has a clearer definition. Authors such as Jonathan Frenzen, Haruki Murakami, Mario Vargas Llosa, Michel Houellebecq, Sally Rooney, Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood, Elena Ferrante or Karl Uwe Knausgaard are both recognized authors with huge circulations and great popularity. However, what is happening in our space?
LITERATURE TODAY IS WITHOUT ANY INFLUENCE ON PUBLIC OPINION
Mihajlo Pantić, writer and professor of literature at the Faculty of Philology, asks "Vreme" what it means to be a literary star in Serbia, where literature, an honor to very rare writers, has become a "private passion".
- It is without any wider influence on public opinion (I mean the books, not the statements or political views of the writers). A "star" can only be in mass culture and therefore such a term is inappropriate for use in a literary context. The same is true with the concept of "popularity": a great poet or novelist who is read by hundreds of readers cannot be popular, which is a very common case today. However, fortunately, there are widely accepted and confirmed authors whose work and public actions warn that literature, regardless of its objective social position, is a key area of every culture, because all other forms of art and all other spheres of public life are connected to it. actions.
Our interlocutor is also referring to politics.
- You must have noticed that in front of every well-known writer today, as well as in past decades, there is some political omen, with the fact that in our time, literally no reputable writer supports the ruling regime, on the contrary. This is a fundamental difference compared to the second half of the last century, in which writers, among other things, were socially influential regardless of whether they were followers of communism or dissidents. But, if we are going to talk about today's "literary stars", there would be an inevitable market criterion: "stars" are those whose books sell best. There are few writers who can be counted on the fingers of one hand who have a wider reading, listening and viewing audience, and whose work also has an indisputable aesthetic quality, I am thinking above all of Dusan Kovačević, Ljubivoj Ršumović and Matija Bećković. I can hardly remember the fourth or the fourth - concludes Pantić.
We should remember the former country and the great Yugoslav authors, who were socially influential, but who were also stars in a way. Not only did they sell a lot of books, but what Danilo Kiš, Dobrica Ćosić, Miroslav Krleža, Borislav Pekić, Ivo Andrić, Miloš Crnjanski, Dragoslav Mihailović or Momo Kapor said was important to everyone, for example...
But even here the context is different, because it was a completely different time. The 20th century was a period when culture was important to both individuals and states, literature had a greater social influence, but there were also much fewer media, and for that reason, among other things, it was more visible and present. The mass culture that dominates today, with the presence of the Internet and social networks, has changed everything. Some other contents and values have gained importance, and great writers and their books and attitudes are still marginalized today.
WHO ARE THE MODERN CLASSICS?
Marija Nenezić, literary critic and author of the show "Anatomy Hour" on RTS, tells our newspaper that the issue of stars in the literary sky was also raised in our country with the "change of the economic paradigm and the influence of the market in literary affairs".
- Since then, everyone, from the publishers, to the audience, to the writers, of course, have been waiting for that sky to open and shine. It is no longer enough to be famous, it is necessary to be a star. And now, when the customs of show business and the entertainment industry have moved to the field of art that counts on continuity, which means the future, there is a small misunderstanding that brings a big problem in the practice of writing, reading and publishing. The imperative - to be a star - means today to be recognized in mass culture. And we know, and we should not be fooled, that authentic literary art is not always on the same level as mass taste. But entertaining, light literature, it can be and is.
In that sense, she adds, we have many stars.
- We also have important writers, but they are not stars, nor do they have to be. It is enough for them to be recognized in the literary future. That list certainly includes authors who already have or have achieved a serious literary oeuvre behind them, in the first place are now modern classics (the recently deceased David Albahari and Radoslav Petković), certainly Svetislav Basara, Dragan Velikić and Vladislav Bajac are candidates for the aforementioned literary legacy for future, I would mention Veselin Marković, Darko Tuševljaković, Uglješa Šajtinac, Milena Marković... This is not the end of the series, it is still being created outside the glamorous and of thunderous mass omnipresence and mass commentary. It is ungrateful to compare the importance of these writers with Pekić, Andrić, Crnjanski, Kiš and others because the context is different. The figure of the writer was more significant than the figure of the star that is favored today - Nenezić believes.
In order to compare the literary scene in the former Yugoslavia with what we have now, it is enough to mention the Nobel Prize for Literature that Ivo Andrić received in 1961. It is something that is almost unimaginable today, since then the names of our writers are rarely mentioned as candidates for this award. the most prestigious award. But Nobel is only the most famous example, at first glance. Literature and writers used to be important here on many levels. A lot has changed, that's what our interlocutors are talking about.
HOW TO MAKE MICHAEL JACKSON IN LITERATURE
Aleksandar Šurbatović, writer and editor of the publishing house "Blum", believes that art has generally lost its importance.
- The artist, therefore the writer, is no longer an arbiter in society who can judge and value things. It happened because of the spirit of the times, we live in the era of corporate capitalism, and now the intellectual superstars are people like Elon Musk or Steve Jobs. In this context, the artist is the last hole in the pipe, and literature is no different. With us, things are even worse, because on the one hand we are trying to maintain the socialist artistic discourse, and on the other hand, we are rushing headlong into that new time, and this is where the distortion of reality occurs.
When it comes to big literary stars in the world, adds Šurbatović, that's where big companies ask.
- Companies think about everything as a profit: "Yes, there is something called high literature, there is a certain audience for it, let's monetize it, let's make something that is Michael Jackson in literature". It brings them a little less money, but it does, and that's how superstars are made. Now the trend in the world is for them to be debutantes with their first novel, because it is cheaper for large corporations. A similar thing happens in film production - concludes Šurbatović.
What is the greatest paradox of today's time compared to the communist period, when there were bans and censorship, is that today everyone can write and say what they want, but it has much less weight. However, there are some exceptions. When it comes to the region, we have to mention Miljenko Jergović, a Croatian writer who has been a literary star in this region for the last 15-20 years, no matter how pompous it sounds. He has a combination of quality and popularity, and it is a rare person from the world of literature whose every statement is followed and quoted with so much attention.
"As for the public or my social position and the way my actions were treated, I prefer not to think about that. If I thought about it, I might kill myself. And maybe I would start calculating with the mood of the public. It is, in turn, a difficult and painful job. If you deal with it, you cannot deal with literature", Jergović said in an interview last year.
His statement is perhaps the best message for writers when it comes to their perception of their own status, but we readers will continue to look for "stars" and great authors. The question remains: can literature in our country find a new way to the public and regain the importance it once had? This is a challenge not only for writers, but also for publishers, media and readers, who create space for new literary greats.
Less than two days of blockade - that's how long it took to see how weak and powerless the public media service is, both from the outside and from the inside. At the moment of writing this text, it is the eighth day of the blockade, and the sixth that RTS is not broadcasting its program. They also seem to be facing a strike inside the house. And the essence of blocking RTS is not in what it publishes, but in what it keeps silent
In the months after the fall of the canopy in Novi Sad, the flames of rebellion spread throughout Serbia. The first protests started in Novi Sad right after the tragedy. The authorities responded with arrests, police cordons and intimidation, but instead of calming down the protesters, new protests followed.
The rector of the University of Belgrade, Vladan Đokić, has been the target of top state officials and regime tabloids for months, who label him as an insidious instigator of student protests, an opportunist, "the face of evil" and "the leader of the criminal octopus." How and why a rector became "state enemy number one"
"I'm standing in the cordon, and my daughter is shouting at me 'aw, aw, killers'. What should I do? If they ordered me - I would throw down my baton and bulletproof vest and stand on the side of my child," a police officer from the south of Serbia, who works as needed in the Belgrade Police Brigade, told "Vreme"
The recent formation of the Đura Macuta government is part of the regime's revenge and cynicism. This can be seen most in the "black troika" of new ministers appointed to deal with the parts of society that are the leaders and symbols of the big rebellion that lasted for several months, the cause of which was the fall of the canopy in Novi Sad, which claimed 16 human lives. Education, universities, unsolicited media and parts of the judiciary that refuse to listen to orders, either publicly, with announcements, or hiding behind legal procedures, should be dismantled. Those who will have no problem doing everything they are told, even reinforcing the orders with their own inventions, are chosen for this.
RTS is blocked, universities do not work, and threats, insults and calls to the prosecutor's office and the police to arrest blockers, rioters and terrorists are pouring out from the top of the government. The Serbian state has turned into a farce
Anyone who condemns the regime's targeting of people from the media, the non-governmental sector, the opposition and universities, must not agree to this targeting of RTS editors and journalists either.
The government of Đur Mazut is "counter-revolutionary", focused on retaliation and state and street violence against opponents of the regime
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