“If I were a magician who could make things possible, I'd have lemonade always tasting as it did on the evening Francesco explained how right it was for the Italian moon to be a feminine moon. If I were a magician who could make things possible, we'd be able to understand all languages every evening between eight and nine. If I were a magician who could make things possible, all dams would keep their promises. If I were a magician who could make things possible, we'd be really brave.” MagicianWishing Book:How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone Source: How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone
“A book is not only written - after it's finished it starts writing you, the writer. You become its notebook, its sheet of paper on which it forces you to think and rethink your original ideas, your topics, your research, actually everything.” ThinkingWritingBookIdeasForceWrittenPaperResearchOriginalsFinishedTopicsSheetsNotebookOriginal Ideas Author:Sasa Stanisic
“Dealing with all the questions once the book is out and unchangeable, forces you to permanently give opinions about - in this case - sensible, challenging topics that you are basically only half the expert you would have to be if you wanted to explain yourself in a trustworthy, intelligent and helpful manner.” IfsGivingBookWantedForceChallengesHalfOpinionCasesIntelligentExpertsHelpfulSensibleTopicsTrustworthyUnchangeableExplain Yourself Author:Sasa Stanisic
“Writing about a war will always be political writing, no matter what amount of hermetical hide-and-seek or aesthetical operations are involved.” WritingWarMatterPoliticalAmountInvolvedNo Matter WhatOperationsHide And SeekPolitical Writing Author:Sasa Stanisic
“FAQ regarding my book were not about my use of commas or how the images went berserk, but about the political situation in Bosnia, about guilt and shame, about victims and perpetrators, about reasons, arguments and beliefs that led to the conflict in the first place, etc. All of this needed and still needs answering and ongoing discussions, but I mostly felt overwhelmed and unqualified to articulate anything worth more than personal experiences of the siege, of fear and refuge - all the things which I wrote about anyway.” NeedsFirstsStillsBookReasonUsePoliticalBeliefFeltSituationNeededConflictArgumentShameVictimGuiltDiscussionEtcRefugeOverwhelmedOngoingPersonal ExperiencesPerpetratorsSiegeUnqualifiedBosniaBerserk Author:Sasa Stanisic
“Something as radical as a war can only be understood (if at all) through the collaboration of journalists, academia, artists and, of course, people.” PeopleIfsWarArtistCoursesUnderstoodRadicalJournalistCollaborationAcademia Author:Sasa Stanisic
“By trying to give an artistic approach through my book I stepped unwillingly into other fields. Like a dentist being asked about a throat ache on a much more relevant scale, I was caught in trying to explain what was unexplainable for me. In the end, trying to explain why it was unexplainable finally led to a huge general insecurity in dealing with the subject at all.” GivingTryingBookEndsSubjectsFieldsHugeApproachCaughtScalesArtisticInsecurityThroatRelevantAcheDentistUnexplainable Author:Sasa Stanisic
“Instead of giving it [war] a rest I continued pursuing more research, talking to more people on the subject as if I was to please this aftermath of the book by knowledge that was more historical and psychological than literary and aesthetical.” PeopleIfsGivingBookWarTalkingSubjectsPleaseResearchHistoricalPsychologicalAftermath Author:Sasa Stanisic
“The reason for writing that essay was less a personal agenda than an attempt to explain my unease with the general label of "immigrant literature" after I had read quite a number of reviews (in different countries) involving books written by 'immigrants.'” WritingBookDifferentCountryReasonLiteratureNumbersWrittenLabelsImmigrantsAgendasReviewsEssaysInvolvingDifferent Countries Author:Sasa Stanisic
“It just seemed to me so utterly wrong to credit someone's work just for the fact that this someone migrated from one place to another. We all move. We are all leavers and new beginners at some point, and yes, it is a huge leap from war to peace, from one language to another, from Boston, MA to Joplin, MO.” WarFactsMovingLanguageHugeCreditLeapBostonBeginnersLeavers Author:Sasa Stanisic
“Regarding fiction, our concern shouldn't be the author's origin (and of course I am forgetting the sales people right here), because that is actually merely a simplified, almost insulting judgment of the book by its cover - or rather by the name and origin of its author - an act of discrimination if we want to say it in a more provoking way, but at the least an act of ignorance and false empathy.” PeopleIfsWayWantBookCoursesNamesForgetFictionIgnoranceJudgmentEmpathyConcernDiscriminationProvokingInsultingSales People Author:Sasa Stanisic
“Europe is not becoming more unified - well, yes, on paper - but not as long as the criteria for so many things (import regulations, border control, visa politics...etc.) are still made in an unjust, unreasonable way.” WayWellsLongMadeStillsBecomingPaperEuropeBordersEtcRegulationUnjustCriteriaBecoming MoreUnreasonableUnifiedImportsVisaBorder Control Author:Sasa Stanisic
“Given that the label "immigrant literature" is already established, unavoidable for anyone with a migrant background and used in any given context, I strongly advocate an absurd amount of specification to go along with the label.” UsedLiteratureGivenAmountBackgroundsAbsurdLabelsImmigrantsMigrantsSpecifications Author:Sasa Stanisic
“For example, an author whose parents fled a war but he himself was born in the country where they fled to, and that is where he went to school and college before he wrote his first book of poetry in the language of this country - he should be labeled as: "Author whose parents fled a war but he himself was born in the country where they fled to, and that is where he went to school and college before he wrote his first book of poetry in the language of this country."” ShouldFirstsBookWarCountrySchoolLanguageParentBornExampleCollege Author:Sasa Stanisic
“I also did a great amount of writing while doing research. It gave me the opportunity to meet and talk to people other than family, but also to explore my own memory deeper by comparing it to the memories of others who were in my home town during, for example, the political transition from socialism to a nationalistic "democracy" or during the bombings.” PeopleWritingHomePoliticalOpportunityMemoriesMy OwnDemocracyExampleAmountResearchTownsDeeperSocialismCompareTransitionBombingNationalisticHome Town Author:Sasa Stanisic
“I just feel much more secure about whatever I write if I stand with one foot in reality - meaning if the stories I write about have a core of "this actually (could have) happened."” IfsFeelsWritingStoriesRealityHappenedFeetCoreSecure Author:Sasa Stanisic
“It is a bit more challenging for the simple fact that now the stories I am writing are relying more on my imagination than on facts, more on research than on memory; so it is basically a slower writing process, more reading, more exploring. On the other hand, this approach is a little bit relieving too, since many times while writing [How the Soldieer Repairs the Gramophone] I felt too close and equal to my character.” WritingLittlesCharacterFactsStoriesHandsReadingFeltBitsProcessImaginationChallengesMemoriesSimpleEqualApproachLittle BitResearchExploringWriting ProcessMy ImaginationReading More Author:Sasa Stanisic
“It can stand in the way of narration in cases where we want the protagonist to actually go through some kind of catharsis while our own (non-fictional) experiences and stories lead to something banal or completely uninteresting.” WayWantKindStoriesCasesProtagonistsCatharsisNarration Author:Sasa Stanisic
“By changing the way I experienced things, even just involving different details than in reality, I often felt I was betraying the past and playing an unfair game with the reader where he (of course) would ask himself "Did this really happen?"” WayDifferentRealityHappensPastCoursesAsksGamesFeltReaderDetailsBetrayUnfairInvolvingFair Game Author:Sasa Stanisic
“Never too late to learn a language. And the good literature to come with it.” LiteratureLanguage Author:Sasa Stanisic
