Bitef

Rada mi na pamet ona divna Kafkina izjava da ne treba čitati bilo koje knjige već isključivo one koje „nas grizu i bodu" i koje na nas djeluju kao „sjekira za smrznuto more u nama". Taj udar sjekire о ledenu površinu tog „тога и nama" je, Cini mi se, ono cime se mi bavimo i ako ne osjetimo kako puca taj led и čitateIju i gledatelju, onda nismo ništa napravili. Pisao sam Elijahovu stolicu ne bih li sam razbio to smrznuto тоге и meni, ne bih li se sam suočio s onim što me intimno mucilo od vremena kada sam napustio Sarajevo, a сети nisam znao kako prici kao pisac. Dakako, tu je Sarajevo ne samo Grad s velikim G već i konglomerat tema i pitanja koji me je opsjedao, a koji nadilazi samu konkretnu opsadu Sarajeva i Sarajevo samo. Roman tretira dvije velike terne, holokaust i Sarajevo. Možda je još jedna velika tema tu, pitanje odnosa individualnog i kolektivnog identiteta. Sve zajedno, on se bavi XX stoljećem, njegovim nadama i košmarima. Sarajevo je tu kao metafora za XX stoljeće. Dakako, teška je sudbina gradova koji odslikavaju prîcu svog vremena i, nažalost, to se potvrdilo i и našem slučaju. Pisati о tim temama bilo je, dozvolite mi da nastavim tu kafkijansku metaforu, uistinu kao hodati po tankom ledu. I ti i tvoja ekipa sada radite isto. Vi doista hodate po tankom ledu. Jer, to тоге и gledatelju jeste smrznuto, ali кога nije suviše debela. Potrebno je samo znati gdje udariti sjekirom.

That striking Kafka's statement that one should not read just any books, but only those which "bite us and prick us” and which affect us as a "hatchet for the frozen sea within us” comes to my mind. This blow of the hatchet against the frozen surface of that “sea within us" is, I think, what we do and unless we feel that ice is cracking in the reader and spectator, we have achieved nothing. I wrote Elijah's Chair in an attempt to break this frozen sea within me, to face up to what tormented me privately ever since I left Sarajevo, not knowing how to address it as a writer. Of course, Sarajevo is not only a City with a capital C; it is a conglomerate of themes and questions which besieged me and which transcends the specific siege of Sarajevo and Sarajevo alone. The novel addresses two major subjects: the Holocaust and Sarajevo. There is perhaps yet another major subject, the guestion of the individual and the collective identity. Altogether, it addresses the 20 th century, its hopes and its nightmares. Sarajevo is like a metaphor of the 20th century. Needless to say, the lot of the cities which reflect the story of their time is hard and this was again confirmed, regrettably in our case. Writing about those topics was, let me extend this Kafkian metaphor, indeed like walking on thin ice. For, this sea in the spectator is frozen, but the crust is not particularly thick. One only needs to know where to apply the hatchet.

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