“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
