Two nights ago I was at a nice promotion at the Kosmos bookstore - an exceptional book was presented. Aleksandar Bečanović “The Untangleable Knot - The Mannerism of Hans Baldung Green”. (The captivating interpretive whirlwind of this book is familiar to Art readers.)
Few would expect to find a very topical Montenegrin topic in a book about a 16th-century painter, but, damn it - that's exactly what happens. Namely, the author explained that Baldung Grin, Dürer's The student, although not a first-rate painter in the Western art canon, was unsurpassed in one thing - drawing witches.
Books can work miracles, just like witches, after all. Because, it turns out that the mythical creature from folk tales and ancient myths is present in Montenegro today thanks to one of the many political dilettantes. Of course, although he had a desire to insult a woman and a dissenter, the leader from Pljevlja only showed his own ignorance and corruption. That's how it usually happens.
About nastiness Vranesa A lot has already been written these days, but it's possible that thanks to this political zombie - witches haven't received the attention they deserve. And there's no doubt that they deserve it.
Let's start with the famous theorist of permanent revolution, whom even communism did not deprive of a kind of fear of witches.
In the mid-1920s, at a meeting of Soviet communists dedicated to "ideological movements in literature" (as they called it) Leo Trotsky uttered the famous sentence: "As is well known, witches do not exist, except Zinadide Hippius", of course".
It is clear that the first commissar of the Red Army was not a fan of the wonderful poetess and her ideas, but he was “skilled” enough to inject a bit of irony into everything, to play around in a way that politicians usually avoid. After all, this ironic moment may explain why Trotsky ended up as a victim of a tyrant, not a tyrant.
Let's stay in the space of Russian literature. My favorite witch is Margarita, from Bulgakovljevog Roman “Maestro i Margarita”.
In the memoirs Elena Sergeevna, the love of Bulgakov’s life, described how the writer brought her to a lavishly furnished apartment, where they were greeted by a man dressed as a stranger, which was quite atypical in Moscow in the thirties. The older man hugged and kissed her, and then said to the writer: “Misha, she is a witch.” Thus was born the most magnificent witch in modern literature.
I Kortasarova The magician from "Školica" has something of a witch. The power to disappear, if nothing else...
After all, it is clear that this is a more complex phenomenon than a mere political label or folklore figure.
I believe that this label arose from men's fear of what is unfathomable in women. That's why the classic fairy tale witch is such a caricature, because it bears witness to this immense fear of what makes women in a certain sense superior beings. That's why all truly fascinating women have something of a witchy aura.
This guy from Pljevlja, of course, doesn't know what he's talking about. He could be talking about anything, not just "witches."
by the way Njegosheva The witch is not actually a witch. This is what is called today a "special war". She is, therefore, sent to play the role of a witch, and the people readily believe it. The landowners know that this is nonsense. The witch is soon "unmasked", but obviously the great poet wanted to say something about the pliability of the people, but also about how those who work against Montenegro know that a "witch" is an effective weapon. The latest proof that Njegoš was right about this is - Vraneš.
However, the episode with the “witch” (today as in the Bishop Danilo) speaks to how irreversibly poisoned, stupidized and trivialized Montenegrin public space is, irrationalized to the extreme.
It is possible that young readers raised on Harry Potter will have a somewhat more benevolent attitude towards witches, but for those who grew up on the dubious retellings of Njegoš - there is definitely no hope.
Bonus video:
