RITAM SRBIJE RHYTHM OF SERBIA
to move to Belgrade over the last ten years, as many of my friends from Niš have left. I then realised over time that everything in Niš is, mostly, just right, and that it is in fact a city that’s tailored to me, as it’s not too big and isn’t small either, while it has a history, an urban culture and is beautiful for life. Belgrade is too fast and tense for me, I often say that a day in Belgrade is like three in Niš, it simply leaks away... Although Belgrade has many things that I love and that I experience as my own. How- ever, if I were to move, I would go to Manchester, Dub- lin or New York.” When you are spoken about, it is usually said that you are - a Niš-based writer, which isn’t actually something that stands out in a geo- graphical sense. Does that seem to be impor- tant in your case? It’s important primarily due to two things: mentality and language. Mentality is something you’re born with, it isn’t like character that can be shaped. e southern men- tality is specific. e people of Niš are warm and hospita- ble people, but they are also grouchy, impatient, noisy... Particularly specific is our humour, which simultaneous- ly shapes our outlook on life. Niš folk have an answer to everything and know everything, and they communicate that to you in a very vivid language that was immortal- ised by Sremac in his works, and I tried to follow that up with my book Left Side of the Road, which presents a modern urban slang of Niš. Niš isn’t only a location for the stories of your novels to unfold, rather it is an hero, becom- ing a city that we want to get acquainted with, where we want to come. Was that your goal, or do you just write about what you know? e latter. at’s because the most important rule in writing is: write about what you know. Many writers fall at that hurdle. I write about my city and its history. So, I find myself at the very source of inspiration and themes. Niš is one of the oldest cities in the Balkans, it is the birth- place of one of the most important rulers and reform- ers in the history of civilisation, it was the second capi- tal, the seat of industry that was the first in this part of Europe to make TVs and computers... So I write about what I know, which at the same time is what I love. at’s a nice combination. While we’re discussing that love, what does Niš have that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world? Niš is, first and foremost, its people. And here I don’t mean only Niš natives. e city was built on a crossroads and has always been a place where people came from all over the world. And that remains so today. Niš is specif- ic in that it is constantly changing and yet basically re- mains the same. If I had to choose things that are unique to it and aren’t found anywhere else, then that would cer- tainly be the women, cuisine, taverns, humour and the aforementioned language and mentality. How did you become interested in old Niš and that bygone time in which Kalča and Sremac lived, when the Marger tavern existed, where
Jedna je Merilin Zašto vas istorija toliko provocira i sa kim biste najradije uradili intervju ka- da biste mogli da uskočite u vremen- sku mašinu? – Osim što je učiteljica života, istorija kao nauka o prošlosti pruža nam mo- gućnost da učimo na tuđim greška- ma, a vrlo često su stvarni događa- ji fascinantniji od izmaštanih. Kada bih imao polovni vremeplov, uradio bih intervju sa Merilin Monro. U stvari, ona bi pričala, a ja bih je gledao.
THERE’S ONLY ONE MARILYN Why are you so provoked by history and who would you most like to do an interview with if you could jump into a time machine? - Apart from being a teacher of life, history – as the science of the past – provides us with an opportunity to learn from the mistakes of others. And real-life events are very often more fascinating than imaginary ones. If I had a second- hand time machine, I would do an interview with Marilyn Monroe. Actually, that wouldn’t even be an interview: she would talk and I would watch her.
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