Is justice equal for everyone or can we tailor it as we see fit? Sometimes see through the fingers, close one eye for some imagined greater good...
These are big questions and dilemmas, but also only one dimension of the novel "A Case of Own Destruction", says the author Christian Novak in an interview with "Vijesti" and points out that for him the work is primarily a family drama, in which three surviving family members try to find the truth and justice, and at the same time decide where and how to deal with their suffering and hatred...
Also published by the Montenegrin publishing house "Nova knjiga", the novel "A Case of Own Destruction" will be presented today in Podgorica, at the 18th International Podgorica Book and Education Fair, in the garage part of the "Big Fashion" shopping center at 20 p.m. when they will talk with Novak Jelena Krsmanović.
The novel is motivated by a real event, the alleged suicide of a young policeman, which his family, given a series of unusual circumstances, suspects, crying out for answers and justice.
"'A case of self-destruction' is a new, intriguing novel by Kristian Novak that draws heavily on the famous Antigone. In this book, a lonely individual finds himself torn between law and morality, justice and injustice, victim and villain," the description states, among other things.
The parallel with Antigone is not accidental, and in an interview with Vijesti, Novak reveals how a professor from Montenegro directly influenced it. In addition, the Montenegrin and regional public on many levels can recognize or identify with the novel, which permeates elements of documentary, fiction, crime-thriller, with inevitable love, honesty and struggle in a corrupt system based on loyalty and power against the law and morals.
Kristijan Novak talks about all this for Vijesti and invites the audience to the Book Fair, which will be officially opened today at 13 pm in the Music Center of Montenegro.
Your new novel "The Case of Your Own Destruction" was a great success in a short time, just like your previous works. Considering the time period that passed until the publication of this book, as well as the differences compared to the previous ones, can you as an author say where this story will take the readers, which is not everyday, neither in terms of genre nor language, for our literary area?
I don't think I would even like to have control over where my text will take the reader, it is reborn in the ear and gut of the reader and has nothing to do with me anymore. Actually, when I think about it, that's the best possible scenario. Because it turns out that precisely in the parts that are written "from the plexus", with genuine emotion, the meeting of author and reader takes place on another level. Reading about the fate of a completely ordinary, working-class Croatian family that fell apart because the youngest member, a policeman at that, resented some superiors and members of the local elite, I believe that people can recognize the archetypal story for these areas. Unfortunately, some will also recognize their own fate or the story of someone close to them. People from the region, from the police, justice, education, and health systems contact me, they feel this and that. Don't mess around with horns, isn't that a phrase that can be appropriated by each of the South Slavic languages?
The novel is based on a real event, the plot is based on the (alleged) suicide of a policeman that happened in Croatia more than ten years ago. Taking that as a motive, how demanding and challenging was it to respond to the creation of the plot, in the context of the process of creating characters and story, research and use of reality and fiction for the purpose of literature, and then the responsibility towards the case from which everything originated?
Because of what you mentioned, this is by far the most difficult project for me so far. Each one is difficult, that's why I write for so long, but here especially, because I had this terrible ethical dilemma: can the text cause the opposite effect of the one I wanted? As an author, you want to tell those people in the only way you know how, that they are not alone after all, that someone sees their sacrifice (even though they never played that card, they are too proud people), that they will remember what they went through. However, you are entering into someone's private life, into intimacy, digging into wounds that will never heal. Is it possible to deal extra damage to them? It was a risk that concerned not so much me as the people who survived. During the writing, I also faced my limitations and the possibility that I was simply egocentric and that I was doing it all for myself, for some redemption of my own. There's so much of that burden that it's built into the very structure of the story. But after all, I'm happy I wrote this story. If it weren't for me, I don't think anyone else would.
To what extent are memory, memory and conscience present, but also important, in the creation of a better society, and perhaps literature too if we take into account the question of education? Is there an adequate culture of memory in our area or does forgetting dominate and where does it lead?
This question makes my head spin a little. Because at first it occurs to me what a blessing it would be if all of us who participated in the wars after the breakup of Yugoslavia ate some miraculous mushroom that made us forget everything. So let's somehow clean up and move on and stop being puppets that are manipulated precisely by history, the past and myths and a combination of these. But we cannot do without a culture of memory, because the victims must not be forgotten. Only, then not selectively. Not just his victims, but properly, all of them. Otherwise, sacrificial mythologies are created in which others have always mistreated us poor people, and we have never harmed anyone. Why not. None of these countries are immune to it. Whenever we talk about bringing Croatian soldiers who have committed crimes to justice, the narrative that starts with "But neither did these others..." is agreed upon. And it is forgotten that if you really do that, you as a people and a country face your own stains from the past - you will be an incomparably better society in ten or twenty years.
You said earlier that you were drawn to this story by the honorable people in the "tricky", corrupt system, which we all need. Such a system and the individuals in it are something that, I would like to note, all societies in the countries of the former Yugoslavia, and beyond, can identify with. In what way does such a context and its closeness contribute to the very atmosphere of the novel, mysticism and tension, but at the same time to the consideration, or questioning, of deep human and social issues, above all honor, goodness and consistency?
The tension on my part was first of all palpable in the relationship we have with whistleblowers, with people who are brave enough to point out corruption, the unethical behavior of someone in a position of power. Yes, declaratively, we are all immediately with them, the public and the media support it, intellectuals come forward. However, in the long run, they stand alone, often fighting far more powerful opponents. And the rest of us? We give moral support as we know how and take care of our close circle. We try to pass the car on technical inspection, we pull the strings when we need to settle a loan for an apartment or an operation in the hospital. And we continue to be part of the same system that disgusts us.
How do the characters in your works live and survive, and how in reality are there around us today those honorable people who are ready to defy the system by adhering to certain ethical and moral values? Are they visible enough, and does the novel, in addition to being a superb crime-thriller story, also encourage thinking about it?
I believe that, if viewed from the perspective of a pure crime story, this is not the most successful text. Admittedly, we have a suspicious death, but we do not have a classic detection, and ultimately no clear truth. The reason for this is that I didn't really set out to write a crime thriller. For me, this story is primarily a family drama, in which three survivors, father, sister and older brother, also a policeman, try to find the truth, justice, and satisfaction. And at the same time decide where and how to deal with your suffering and hatred. On another level, this is a story about the conflict of two ideas, two worldviews, equally logical, but mutually incompatible. Is justice the same for everyone or can we tailor it as we see fit... Sometimes see through the fingers, close one eye for some imagined greater good.
A kind of parallel with Antigone was made, and the main characteristic of the work is the phrase "moral activism". Who are the moral activists of today, who are the contemporary Antigones and what price do they pay in a time when, it seems, everything has a price?
These are people who dare to stand against a more numerous and powerful enemy, especially people who do it because of an ideal. Let's be realistic, every ideal of a better society and system without corruption is forgotten when it comes to our own skin or the lives of our family members. When my middle child was seriously ill, all I could think about was how to get to the best doctor in the world, by whatever means, legal or illegal. But when the crisis passed and everything ended well, I didn't like to remember that state. Because they can keep us under control through fear, because then we are focused exclusively on ourselves, and not on the wider context.
There are several dramatic currents in the work, there is also love - familial and romantic, one striking character who comes from a religious milieu, writing in the first person that contributes to intimacy and immersion in the story, then the script, but we also have a large dose of pessimism that may somewhere the readers themselves feel in reality. Is all that together what makes life in one micro environment, and then wider, maybe even global?
Yes, love is especially key in this story, it prevails when the decision comes - to make a slaughter for justice or to find a harder alternative. That's why I even think this is the least pessimistic story I've written. Because it talks about a man who, as the director said Ivan Plazibat when he received the Marul award for the play "A case of his own perdition", he had the strength to bury his dead, support his living and find meaning in saving other people's lives.
In your opinion, can moral and fighting individuals be a counterweight to the failing system and ideologies that are based on personal interest, power, money and authority? How do you see the role of literature in that setting and encouraging certain personal and then social changes and raising public awareness?
I am quite skeptical about the activist potential of literature and art in general. If you want change immediately and from the roots, don't write a book or a play, don't shoot a movie. Because art does not have the effect of political social activism. But I believe that if literature is good, it can articulate problems in a new and better way and, to paraphrase Žižek, to find a language to express our unfreedom.
On the eve of the promotion in Podgorica, would you like to add or tell the readers something?
See you tonight at 20 pm at the 18th International Podgorica Book Fair! It was not difficult for you.
A professor from Montenegro directly influenced the "Case of Own Destruction"
You are coming to Podgorica as a guest of the Book Fair... What would you say about the importance of this type of event for the purpose of exchanging and popularizing literary manuscripts, experiences, works and authors?
I was at the festival "Odakle zovem", in Karver in Podgorica, before the corona, at the invitation of Varja Đukić, and I had a wonderful time. I remember that in just a few days, I got a kind of feeling that I was at home and met wonderful people. The conversation with me was led by Vuk Perović, and high school teacher Miro Minić directly influenced my writing "The Case of My Own Destruction". He is the one I was referring to when I wrote "genius from Montenegro" who reinvented Antigone for work with high school students. I am now looking forward to coming to the Fair and meeting new people and, of course, the fact that there is a very nice interest in what I write.
A dialect for feasting, perhaps a shot in the knee
Speaking in the context of the language and dialects used in this work, the question often arises as to whether it will create a certain barrier for readers who do not know the "Donjomeđimur subdialect" very well. What I'm interested in is how exactly this serves the authenticity of the story itself, but also encourages readers to be aware of the existence of a certain common language and way of (co)understanding despite these differences?
Yes, that dialect of mine is probably partly a shot in the knee. There are a lot of readers in our country who shy away from dialect, and that is a legitimate attitude. I'm not angry that they don't want to read texts in which there is dialect, and they shouldn't be angry that I still write like that. I need a Shtokavian standard for narration, for complex thought. But my characters can't speak according to the standard. Especially not the characters who live in Međimurje. I'm somehow starting from my perspective as a linguist and a lover of languages, so I believe that there will always be those who enjoy Kajkavian, just as I enjoy other people's dialects and other language varieties.
What a blessing it would be if all of us who took part in the wars after the breakup of Yugoslavia ate some miracle mushroom that made us forget everything. So that we somehow clean up and move on and stop being puppets that are manipulated precisely by history, the past and myths and a combination of these. But we cannot do without a culture of memory, because the victims must not be forgotten. Only, then not selectively. Not just his victims, but properly, all of them.
Let's be realistic, every ideal of a better society and system without corruption is forgotten when it comes to our own skin or the lives of our family members.
Bonus video:
