Poetry will help history and sometimes we should trust writers more than historians, said the famous writer and poet in an interview for "Vijesti" Enes Halilović, on the eve of the literary evening in Podgorica.
Halilović's collection of poems "Sequoia" will be presented on April 27, as part of the regular literary program of the Cultural and Information Center "Budo Tomović", in the Dodest hall, at 20 p.m. A Montenegrin writer will discuss the book with the author Vasko Raičević.
Halilović has been researching various historical events for years, looking for something lyrical in them, and he succeeds in transposing events from the past into art, poetry or prose, giving these testimonies an artistic value. Just such a motif appears, among other things, in the collection "Sequoia", in a poem related to Montenegro, that is, the Lim region. Halilović presents that poem, "Toys (according to the testimony of Branka Bogavac)" to the readers of "Vijesti", and in the interview he explains what he is talking about and why he stands out from the others in the notable and award-winning book "Sequoia". The song is related to a terrible real event that happened 80 years ago, and which, says Halilović, he did not learn about in school and says: "Let it be remembered."
One of the reviewers of "Sequoia", Uroš Ristanović, notices that "something sickening, ominous, uncomfortable and disdainful emerges from the verses of Enes Halilović's new book..." and asks "What creates such an impression?"...
Titled after the tallest, longest, widest and longest-lived tree in the world, this book already emphasizes the four-dimensionality of the experience that the poet will count on. Its spatial coordinates are highlighted with the subtitle - parallelepiped. This geometric body, in which the dimension of time can be loaded with the symbolism of the sequoia's permanence, performs at least two functions on the front of the book," Ristanović pointed out.
The first of them, he adds, concerns the most constitutive elements of this collection.
"In them - in the forms of the poems, their length, subject matter, thought, sententiousness and anecdotality - six faces of parallelepipeds can be seen staring at their counterparts and embedded like reinforcement in the inner cage of the collection. Thus, at the level of the structure of 'Sequoia', you can see what was said aloud at the end of the opening song: that it "grows in two directions", that is, it is composed of two parts. The first part of 'Sequoia' therefore makes up the first 29 songs, while the second part makes up the last 29 songs. It is important to understand that both of these sequences go towards the center of the book, i.e. that the range of reflections that they want to express continuously ricochets from the beginning of the book to the end and vice versa...", writes Ristanović.
Enes Halilović tells "Vijesti" more about the collection itself, but also about the motives, awards, literature and Montenegrin authors.
Your collection of poetry is already extremely noticeable, successful and recognized by the public. Do you have any expectations regarding the presentation in Podgorica and is there a difference in the reactions of the audience depending on the climate?
I don't have any special expectations related to different cities or countries... I want to socialize with the audience, I want to feel their energy, as well as the energy of my poetry. There is no big difference in differences, whether a person performs in Germany, Russia, France or in Montenegro, for example. If poetry is, it affects the one who lives and experiences poetry.
Sequoia is the tallest, widest and longest-lived tree in the world, and the symbolism of the title itself intrigues the audience as well as theorists and critics... How much does sequoia as such actually represent poetry, its existence and significance?
I recognized the sequoia as a symbol, bearing in mind that it grows in two directions, both up and down, while the speed of its growth also increases. In a way, it is like literature, like a world tree of literature that grows, both in the past and in the future, but it is also related to identity, how to last, how to experience the structure of human thinking that spills over from the past into the future.
In addition, the subtitle reads "Paralelopiped" - a geometric body... Are the poems in some way defined by the title and subtitle, i.e. on the one hand by longevity and unrestrained growth and expansion, and on the other hand by geometric multidimensionality?
Most of my books have something in the subtitle that indicates the form, so the book "Sequoia" is conceived as a parallelopiped, like a slightly slanted cube. It has a code of three-dimensionality, readers will easily recognize it when they look at and compare the poems from the beginning to the end, as well as in my book "Walls".
Considering the representation of mathematical concepts, including models of work and form, I am interested in how you see the connection, or the relationship, between poetry and mathematics, does it exist at all and if so, why is it most often deviated from it?
Science and art are not as far apart as people think. If you go east, you will also appear in the west. It's the same if you go down art - you have to touch science, and if you go through science you will touch art somewhere. All knowledge actually comes from one root of world knowledge. As it is Empedocles was a musician and a philosopher and a mathematician, so I believe that even today's books do not need to be strictly defined. Science and art touch each other, and how, and I dealt with this in the book "Bangladesh" and in the book "Walls", as well as now in "Sequoia".
One of the songs is related to a terrible event from the history of Montenegro, that is, to children who lost their eyes and fingers during the Second World War when the occupying soldiers planted stuffed toys filled with explosives. How did the creation of this song come about and how important is the truthfulness of the story, the motive?
That song is related to real events. Children in Lima Valley lost fingers and eyes by touching dolls filled with explosives. That was after the battle on Sutjeska, that is, after June 15, 1943. I wrote it in 11 syllables and in thirds, which is the form used by i Dante Alighieri. In this way, I wanted to show how much soldiers, even from great cultures, know how to commit war crimes. I found it as a historical testimony at Branke Bogavac and I wanted it to be remembered in art as well, because it is a truly unremembered crime that should remain alive and the memory of it should remain alive. When I was in school, for example, we didn't teach it. Now I want someone else to know about what happened, and it has just been 80 years since that terrible event.
You said that you wrote it based on documentary sources. I believe that few people in Montenegro know about this, and I would also say that there should be a certain gratitude or pride that you recognized and made this story additionally visible. In what way can poetry be a testimony of history and influence the culture of memory, but also serve as a warning to young generations?
Poetry is very often fed by history, fed by documents. As a poet, I always tried to find the lyrical in the documentary. I wanted to try my hand at being an interpreter of history. I have been researching many historical events for years and looking for the lyrical in them. This is how, for example, I worked with the Foresters in the novel "People without graves" and in the drama "Zemlja", and it is the same in the case of this poem about Montenegro. And even though I'm not from that area of Lima, it still touched me, and even if it happened in Japan or Argentina, I think I would write something on that topic, because it was shocking to me that someone could make such toys at all. Let it be remembered. Poetry will help history by being remembered.
And as for the relationship between history and poetry itself, it has been very complex since ancient times. Sometimes we should trust writers more than historians, because, as he says Sioran, history is made simply like children behind closed doors... History certainly exists, with the fact that we don't know much. The most documented wars are the wars from the end of the 20th century. But the Second World War is significantly well documented, so there are many, many passages in it that can be used for literature.
In the poem "Brze godine" the reader can feel the atmosphere in which, as you say, "winters and wars are coming", while "on the street the people are armed with half-truths", to conclude that there are "two occupations: historians and gravediggers". How dangerous is the weapon of half-truths, especially today, when we increasingly witness examples of violence, division, often as victims of manipulation?
You see how many media there are in the world, thousands, tens of thousands... And there are a lot of half-truths in all media. A half-truth is more dangerous than a lie, because a lie is easier to detect, and a half-truth is not so easy... Some people have even made a habit of sowing half-truths and thus manipulating people, they are misled. Poetry, literature, art in general are there to, if not explain, then bring us closer to a problem, at least to ask a question, if not an answer.
In addition to the song "Something like an afterword", the thought of the transience of man is also present in others... What are the motives that encourage you to write the most and do you believe in inspiration?
Baudelaire said that inspiration is the sister of everyday work. And when I'm not directly working on manuscripts or reading or talking, and when I'm not directly researching some material, it's enough to think about it, regardless of whether I'm in the car and driving or I'm in the mountains and walking or taking the little girl from kindergarten ... If a poet is a poet, he is always with poetry.
Do you have any future plans, are you working on something new?
My plan and my desire are always the same - as I lived as a writer, to be a writer every day of my life, to be with art, to be with books, to be with the audience. However, the greatest charm is to write something. For a writer it is the greatest charm, and a writer never feels better than when he has written something he is satisfied with.
Would you like to add something?
As a boy at school, you learn about some wars, about the past, and you are amazed at how many people died. But since I was born, 46 years, there hasn't been a day that there hasn't been a war in the world... As you can see, people are always dying and I wonder how long it will last. There is great unrest in the world, there is unrest in individuals as well... How to find happiness is a big question.
There are not many good readers, but they do exist, just as there is a four-leaf clover
What is the position of poetry and literature today, considering the various crises that affect us both locally and globally, but also the development of artificial intelligence, which is beginning to be used for the purposes of art?
It is probably the position that literature deserves. It always seems to us that this position is not good, but nevertheless, even in the Balkans, there is still some significance in the writer's word. I can't complain that it's bad, because after all, there are readers who buy books and readers who read books. There are many literate people in the world, there have never been fewer illiterates than today, and yet there are not many real readers in all those percentages of vast humanity. Good, true readers are not many, but they do exist, just as there is a four-leaf clover.
Montenegro is admired in European and world literature
It could be said that you are often in Montenegro. Do you follow the literary scene here, but also other events?
I follow the literary scene in Montenegro and I can say that there are gifted writers, as there were. Montenegro is quite focused on European and world literature, which is especially visible in young authors who are growing up, but are not separated from the world they live in or the time they live in.
There are not many significant awards, just as there are not many good works of literature
You can boast of a large number of significant awards, what is your attitude towards them?
My attitude towards awards is twofold. When someone rewards a good work, I respect and support it, and when someone rewards an average work, I, of course, do not respect it. However, we have to say that there are many awards, but still not many significant awards. Just as there are not many good works of literature. We witness that, for example, there is a lot of bad prose, a lot of boring novels. It's as if literature is in some sort of crisis, although there have always been bad books. Fortunately, there are also good books.
TOYS
according to the testimony of Branka Bogavac
When they arrived, in the middle of the century,
soldiers, clean, singing, dear,
they roasted fish by our rivers,
our fish and sometimes frogs,
kind and gentle at all times
they pinched both girls and grandmothers;
revelers devoted to the violin,
read the sonnets of Michelangelo,
they were followed by Verdi and Paganini;
we children, barefoot, naive and daring,
I remember, we found toys by the side of the road
(and the child's soul wanted to play,
because they didn't buy us toys)
stuffed goats and stuffed cats
which they carefully filled with explosives:
she without a finger, he remains without an eye,
some got hooks instead of fists...
I testify - there are few living witnesses,
the memory of that plush trick is erased -
was the occupier of the broad hand,
and all of them knew the language of Petrarch.
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