The literary program of the XXXVIII Grad Teatar festival continued last night at Poets' Square with the guest appearance of writer Barbi Marković. The moderator of the evening was Gojko Božović, poet, literary critic, essayist and publisher.
Božović said that Marković entered literature with the novel "Izlaženje".
"That novel was an undisguised dynamic conversation with (Thomas) Bernhard. In contact and dialogue with him, a story about an alternative, avant-garde Belgrade, complicated historical and social circumstances, a story about clubbing in the midst of social reality, which had some quite threatening tones, was born. Then Barbie continued that dialogue with some other challenges, and one of them is the issue of the city. In her next novel 'Superheroines', which was partly written in German and partly translated into German, that novel was a dialogue with the city and with what is visible on the body of the city. That's how the urban storytelling adventure of Barbi Marković continued, always starting from the perspective of the city".
Marković explained that the story with Bernhard was born out of life circumstances.
"I worked for a woman who was doing her doctorate on Bernhard and her entire library was full of all the editions. While I was dusting off those books of hers, I became interested in him and she told me that it was difficult to read and that I I may not be able to, which made me even more interested and I realized that Bernhard is perhaps the easiest thing to read in German. It has a relatively complex syntax, but it is constantly repeated. It is much easier to read than the recommended Kafka I liked the most about Bernhard's negative patriotism and the attitude that you have to be even more critical of something that you perceive as your own Marković said.
The main heroines of the novel "Superheroines" are not fictional, she emphasized.
"One of them is from Sarajevo, and she is Maša, who is also the main character in the book. And Maša Dabić, who translated "Dating" and "Superheroes". Maša was from Sarajevo, so I assigned Sarajevo to her, we are both from Belgrade, "Berlin is important because it is big, and Aleksanderplatz is there, which was my inspiration for rewriting cities. Finally, there is Vienna where we all live," said Marković, after which she read a passage from the novel "Superheroines".
Božović revealed that the novel "Superheroes" also had a theatrical version, and Marković explained that it was the first play of her friend, who in the meantime became a recognized director, Berenice Hebenstreit.
"She is a very precise director who sticks very closely to the text and she managed to divide the text into characters in the same tone. I had the impression that nothing was missing even though the text was shortened".
As Božović said, Germany is a culture where major literary awards change writers' lives, and books change their biography, adding that Marković received several literary awards in Austria and Germany. Marković joked that no matter what she does, she receives an award, and that the award in Leipzig is particularly significant.
"Until that moment when all that happened to me, I wasn't dealing with the stage, as much as I was dealing with myself in literature. After that award, more happened than I expected, I got off that stage and gave interviews for five hours. From then on, she started madnica and my life tripled. That prize is not a big sum, there are also bigger prizes in Germany and Austria, but a lot of attention is paid to this prize. In a few months, 'Mini Horror' sold four editions, which would otherwise require a couple So, this Leipzig award is basically an award that makes a difference on the market".
Marković's language transition was imperceptible and natural, said Božović.
Marković said that the question of language is often asked of her in Germany, but from a different perspective.
"I usually defend myself against this question because everyone is interested in how it is possible to write in a language other than your mother tongue. I often say that I do not look at these things romantically, I am a practical person. I would make huge circles around my goals if I every time I wrote in Serbian and then returned to German in which I have been living for the last 20 years. I think the fact that I live in Vienna and communicate with a German-speaking audience and participate in the German language scene plays a huge role. It is not for me it was so insensitive and natural, there were some different stations. 'Superheroines' is an example that I failed to write a book in German. I started, but I got scared and translated everything into Serbian. Maša encouraged me and translated it for me , but that was the first hand of the manuscript. I continued to write and correct in German so that the original is actually both a translation and a German original. It's a gray area of translation."
Marković is the winner of this year's award for fiction at the Leipzig Book Fair for the book "Mini Horror", and she revealed that she was looking for heroes from all over the world for the stories in the book.
"Then it occurred to me that I could try with Mickey and Minnie because even Walt Disney said about Mickey that he is the most famous unpaid actor in the world. The second thing is that I like characters who are nice, I don't like those "bad guys ” and to immerse ourselves in what it's like to be a murderer and not have a conscience. For some reason, I like to see how the characters try to be good and it's Mickey and Minnie again. All those terrible everyday things and the combination of horror stories and everyday life now they are happening to Miki and Mina and it becomes funny and takes the form of a small comic," said Marković and announced a new book that will be published in the fall.
"Out of politeness, I wrote a book about football that will be published in the fall, "Lecture on Poetics" should also be published. Both are ready. With the fact that the latter is actually called 'Swearing, fighting, playing'," Marković concluded. .
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