Bitef

Šta se dešava ako mit doživljavamo kao neupitnu istinu, ako vekovima kasnije svoju prošlost i budućnost oblikujemo oko narodnih pesama? - Desi se katastrofa. Sva destruktivna društva se obavezno pozivaju na prošlost, ono stvarno, pa i mitsko. Onda se zbilja i mit pomešaju i sledi destrukcija. Vi ste se u svojim režijama cesto bavili mitovima od Antigone, Medeje, Orestije, do Epa o Gilgamešu, llijade, pa čak i Biblije. Zašto vas zanimaju ove velike priče koju su temelj evropske civilizacije? - Ne znam tačno, ali več odavno sam opsjednut drevnim pričama, tim prvim dokumentima ljudskosti. U njima su predivna i divno bolna svjedočenja nepromenljivosti čoveka, njegovih htjenja i frustracija, traženja smisla, pokušaja prevazilaženja samoče, bildanje vlastitog ega, tema smrti i večnosti, ljubavi i mržnje itd., a sve te priče su ispisane na fenomenalne, skoro pa telesne načine, 1 onda me zanima koliko mogu postati naše, sadašnje, koliko utjecajne, a ne mislim intelektualno, više fizički, ritmički. Šta o savremenom evropskom društvu govore te drevne priče i njihovi junači? Koliko one utiču na svest i moral modernog čoveka? - Na svoj pesnički način govore o arhetipskim htjenjima čoveka nekad i danas. U htjenjima se nismo menjali: moč, čast, slava, bol, samoča, tuga, jad. Ali nitko ih ne čita, nitko sluša, skoro nitko. Od njih se uzima samo po potrebi, najčešče poiitičkoj, vulgarnoj, nacionalističkoj. lužno.

ideologies... What can folk songs reveal about certain people? - They can speak of the greatness and longevity of a people, they are a treasury of its genotype, they create the feeling of belonging, a sort of safety and togetherness, and yet, on the other side, they can be the source of fascism and evil. What happens if myth is perceived as a given truth, if we keep shaping our past and future according to folk songs, centuries after their inception? - Then disaster strikes. All destructive societies invariably refer to the past - the real and the mythical one. That leads to the confusion between the reality and the myth and the destruction follows. You have often dealt with myths in your works - from Antigone, Medea, The Oresteia, to Epic of Gilgamesh, The Iliad, and even The Bible. What makes you so interested in those big stories which represent the cornerstones of European civilization? - I cannot pinpoint my exact motives but it has been a while since I became obsessed with those ancient tales, those first documents of humanity. They offer some of the most beautiful and wonderfully painful testimonies of human immutability, of the constancy of man's desires and frustrations, his search for meaning, his attempt to overcome loneliness, to build his own ego, the topics of death and the eternity, of love and hate, etc. And the way ail those stories are written is amazing, almost carnal. All of that makes me wonder to which extent they can become our own, contemporary, to which extent they can exert influence, and I don’t mean so much intellectually as physically, rhythmically. What do all those ancient tales and their heroes tell us about the contemporary European society? How do they affect the consciousness and the morality of a modern man? - In their own way. they speak of archetypal longings of a man then and now. We haven't changed much in that respect: power, honor, glory, pain, loneliness, sadness, sorrow. But hardly anyone is reading them or listening to them now. We reach for them when we need them and that is usually for politics, for some vulgar, nationalistic use. And that is sad.