Like thunder from a clear sky or a ray of sunshine in the middle of the night. Where was the breaking point - for the award to go to a “political mis t” Kao grom iz vedra neba ili zrak sunca usred noći. Gde se to prelomilo – da nagrada ode „politički nepodobnom“, inače genijalnom autoru, i to baš u Švedskoj?
the whole ensemble, that we know each other personally, so on the evening of the premiere we called Peter together, who was thrilled about the show and wished the team all the best. And Handke and I met in the middle of the day, in May 1996, when his poem To Duration (Gedicht an die dauer) was promoted at the National Library of Serbia. Although the contents of the book were completely irrelevant to us, interwoven with his life in the world and his poetic considerations of the same, the event gained the greatest national signi cance. He was a world-class writer who dared to ex- press his admiration for the people, and alongside that he came to Belgrade. For me personally, he was the genius author of the screen- play for Wim Wenders’ lm Wings of Desire, which I watched several times consecutively. The 58-page bilingual book of poetry was sub- mitted to me with the responsibility that I select parts of it to person- ally recount at the promotion. As I was reading a segment, the author suddenly moved back with his whole chair, turned towards me and looked at me, listening to what I was doing. I continued reading with- out paying attention to his concentrated presence. After the promo- tion, again because of the mass and protocol, I didn’t have an oppor- tunity to approach him, in order for us to formally meet, then at one point Handke approached me and said “I don’t like it when actors read my words, but you read this as though you aren’t an actress”. I answered, without hesitation, by saying what I really thought:“Then you wrote this as if you’re not a writer”. We parted ways, because pro- tocol still had to be followed, which also implied hanging out later with Olja in the studio. As I wasn’t part of the protocol, I paid no at- tention to the arrangements until I heard Peter yell “I’m only com- ing if Jelena is there”. I understood that I had no choice. And how it was then is the case again today. But let’s return to the Swedes and the Swedish Academy that awards the Nobel Prize. Lobbying also exists here, as it does for all the other prestigious world awards, and here I’m primarily referring to the Oscars. I admit that I wasn’t a mediator, and I would have loved to have been. Actually, the only person from the Academy that I’ve met is Katarina Frostenson, because I planned to perform one of her monodramas. We met and spoke once. We didn’t manage to con- clude the conversation prior to her being dismissed last year, and not so gloriously. And generally the entire Academy had become con- tentious until it ceased operations last year (and that proves Swe- den’s strength to admit defeat, re-examine its ranks, wait and set out with new forces). Life in Sweden taught me that we should be happy that we have at least one Yugoslav, Serbian Nobel laureate in Ivo Andrić, from 1961, and that is thanks to Ingmar Bergman’s wife, Gunvor‘Gun’Bergman (who was married to the director from 1952 to ‘59), a professor of philosophy and Slavic languages. Some don’t have even that! The Nobel Prize isn’t a local event, but rather a glob- al one. Just as Handke has long since stopped being a local Europe- an writer and now belongs to the world. So the ght for freedom and personal opinion comes home to the Swedes. And thus“divine thoughts”or the writer’s“gods gift”fell from the track of beaten pop- ular culture and politics. With this decision, Sweden regained its character, and the Acad- emy regained basic respect for essential values - the freedom of cre- ation that includes the individuality of the author in the quest for the truth that we all need so much. What it showed most importantly is that it had the courage and strength to equal the greatness of the writer they awarded. As far as I’m concerned – it was born again. And something else, for me personally – as an actress and produc- er – an Oscar is the prize I dream of, but if we say that the screenplay is the basis of every lm in written form, then the Nobel Prize is a good comparison. Peter Handke received the award, which is proof of the existence of good literature as the basis for good lms. I per- sonally experienced it as my own Oscar and the country where I live as my own country.
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