On the one hand, we have the insistence on language differences and the undesirability of certain versions of the language, and on the other hand, the monopolies of large publishers... This is how the poet and one of the founders and editors of the publishing house "Treći trg" from Serbia, Dejan, sees the state of affairs in literature in the region. Matic.
Matić spoke for "Vijesti" about literature, publishing, readership, mutual exchange, but also the importance and role of the author, and he commented on the position of all that in today's time of dynamics, hyperproduction, social networks, e-books, the practice of "cancellation", and the invisibility of the intellectual elite and the expectations of those who (co)finance literature.
He was a guest in Podgorica at this year's International Literary Festival "Odakle zovem", Podgorica 2024, and on that occasion a recording of the interview he did with the Nobel laureate for literature Jun Fose was broadcast, conducted by Radoš Kosović, the translator of Fose's works into Serbian. Given that Fose spoke exclusively for "Vijesti" right before the awarding of the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the interview was published at the very end of 2023, i.e. at the beginning of 2024, Matić, in addition to recommending Fose's work, also spoke to "Vijesti" Montenegrin authors, while he compared one with the Nobel laureate himself...
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There is often talk of a crisis in reading, but also in publishing, despite the fact that much more information is reaching people than ever before. In recent years, a lot has been published, in various ways, and what is the response from readers?
This is a matter of technological progress, during which it is now much easier to publish a printed edition, not to mention an electronic one. That whole process is pretty rushed, unfortunately - in my opinion. It's somehow the spirit of the times, life is faster, everything is accelerated. One circumstance is that authors, especially domestic ones, are impatient to publish something they write. Second, there are a lot of different publishers, which creates overproduction. The upside is that something gets published. I also support writing and publishing, but the bad side of that is that such a quantity of books does not get enough attention, the information does not even reach the readers, and then a strange situation arises in the readership. In general, my impression is that poetry is mostly read by poetry lovers, and they are not numerous, but they do exist. The second category of readers, which is questionable, are the writers and poets themselves, that is, people who write and then read the works of their colleagues. There is some need for people to be informed, to read each other, but realistically we cannot talk about large circulations, profits and profitability. When it comes to prose, it is still widely read regardless of technology, although there is also the problem of a large number of titles, and then the purchasing power of readers. Many decide to borrow the book from the library, rather than buy it, which is understandable, considering the economic aspect. The problem on the reader's market is also the borders between our, now small, countries, and in this sense there are often consequences that a book published in Belgrade does not reach Podgorica, Sarajevo, Zagreb and the like. Larger publishers such as "Laguna", which have greater potential in every sense, and among other things bookstore chains and easier distribution possibilities, invest more in marketing... How much is actually read, I would say a little, fare better here, at least from Belgrade's perspective. , much less than among earlier generations. I think that the main justification or reason for this is the dynamics of today's life, where one book, of several hundred pages, needs to be read for several hours. Of course, I think that this is also influenced by the situation in which, at least in Serbia, the education system has been quite devastated for decades, reading is not encouraged among younger people, among children, among teenagers... Of course, there are exceptions that can change things for the better. . Unfortunately, the culture, and therefore the culture of reading, which is served from the top, by some, shall I say, of those institutional elites who should indicate the importance of this, is not happening. That's the last thing they're interested in, and that's why I don't see any room for optimism. On the other hand, what we do, we do because we want and love it, regardless of all the frustrations and social and economic challenges.
Are we taking advantage of the common language?
The market, in terms of language, is solid, but there are still various obstacles, primarily borders. It is not always a "preferred" exchange. I think that these limits are enough to make the real potential little used. I will give an example on the Serbia-Montenegro route, where this is perhaps the most pronounced. Then there is the relation to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and it seems to me that the worst situation is still in the relation between Serbia and Croatia, obviously traditional, because there is a need to make a difference between Serbian and Croatian, which is very emphasized on both sides, but still dominant is a negative attitude in Croatia towards Serbian books in general. I can testify to this in the sense that no translation into Serbian language is desired in Croatia, with small exceptions, among which is the bookstore that a colleague founded in Zagreb, which accepted a certain number of our editions. I don't know if he managed to sell them, I hope he did. In addition, another problem is created by the publishers themselves, who are trying to create a monopoly over the territory, equally in Serbia, Montenegro and so on, so that they can keep everything under control, including this interstate exchange, which is reduced to cooperation between a couple of publishers who are powerful enough, have strong positions, budgets and the like. So all the alternative smaller publishers are looking for some roundabout ways to promote or distribute their books from one country to another. So, on the one hand, we have the insistence on language differences and the undesirability of certain versions of the language, and on the other hand are the monopolies of the largest publishers.
Institutional elite, you said earlier. Do we have a strong intellectual elite and how much is the voice of these individuals actually heard?
Intellectuals, if they exist in today's world, we don't know what they are and how to define them... There are different definitions offered, but for that you need to have some action and work behind you. I certainly think that they are no longer that important, neither globally, nor in our country. There is no influence from them, the situation has changed a lot in that regard. What bothers me the most in that discourse is exclusivity. If we exclude various media manipulations and ways to force a certain narrative, place some half-truths or simply place something so that it is accepted as the truth and the state of affairs, there is an exclusivity and a need to confirm belonging to an option, regardless of whether it is some liberal, left-wing, right-wing, national, it doesn't matter what ideology. It is the need not to think critically about the position in which one is placed or which one propagates. Given all that, I really don't know if there are any intellectuals here.
What is the correlation between politics and literature that exists on multiple fronts? Today, the culture of "cancellation" is increasingly prevalent, and there is also the power and influence of decision-makers, including financial support... On the other hand, earlier writers were often active and engaged in the political field - although they may not have clearly declared themselves, they were are a kind of opposition, some dissidents, rebels, and even bohemians who led an apparently easier life, again had a clearly expressed attitude through their creativity, and then in public.
It is a very complex question, but it is one of, in my opinion, essential for the authors themselves, how they will approach it and how much they will strive for their authenticity and freedom in that context, and not fall into the trap of expectations. Of course, we are not referring to the expectations of the readers, which is also another and constant theme throughout the history of literature, but here it is more about the expectation of the patron, that is, the one who finances, because literature is mostly not commercial, but co-financed. In our country, as well as in Europe and the world, there are various funds, scholarships, festivals, residencies, and they all have certain expectations. The most recent example is, unfortunately, the war in Ukraine and so, for example, Ukrainian literature is now suddenly favored, but not on the grounds that it is less represented or more valuable compared to some other literature, but because of the unfortunate war situation. And it is present in various ways.
If we have two positions, one extremely national, one extremely liberal, and a writer who constantly makes a mockery of any national myths, values and greatness in his works, he has a specific audience, but again enters the model of someone who exclusively criticizes one aspect of reality. .. I think that the author certainly decides everything himself, and the reader is one of the criteria, only a small judge, regardless of what various centers of power want to create or achieve with writers.
How complex is publishing and how much does it require official discernment and consideration of the third party, so not only the author and the publisher, but also the readers, possibly the audience, and in all of this, quality literature?
Yes, publishing is certainly a complex business, as you said, and in that sense it requires a number of things and a number of processes. Perhaps the first is reading a manuscript or simply when it comes to translated literature, reading that work in the original, in which an important role is always played by the translator, who can not only translate a work, but also recommend the manuscript. Such was the case with active Nobel laureate Juno Fose. His translator Radoš Kosović, on our initiative, suggested two great Norwegian poets, although he is also well known as a playwright and prose writer, one of those two names was Jun Fose. That's how we started publishing it. It is a matter of editorial reading and sensibility. In the case of Fose, he is one of the authors that I personally really liked, his writing style, the topics he covers, the way he does it, so we continued to publish him for years. When it comes to the publishing concept, we have always been focused on contemporary, current literature, whether local or regional, translated, we have certainly paid a lot of attention to poetry all these years, especially the poetry of young, new authors, which is why we were recognizable in the first perhaps about fifteen years, while in recent years we have been giving more space to contemporary prose. Together with our partners, the partner publisher "Srebrno drvo", a library for contemporary drama was launched, and in this sense, we strive to bring something new and different to our environment. Certainly, the criteria are different, the main thing is the quality of the text. The big challenge is precisely that third party you mentioned, i.e. the readers. We have always strived to attract readers with the very appearance of the book, the cover, and our designers Dragana Nikolić and Dina Radoman responded to the task in this sense, because our books are recognized as beautiful, we try (as far as possible) that the equipment itself, the choice of paper and fracture be receptive. When it comes to the thematic framework, our aspiration is to try something new, often authors who have published only a few books in their countries and attracted some attention there. Almost most of the authors that we have published in translation, as well as domestic ones, represent some kind of premiere, often it would be their first book, whether in the Serbian language or generally the first translation outside their home country.
You also published Montenegrin authors, quite successfully. Could you single out someone, or describe the current Montenegrin literary scene in general?
Unfortunately, I do not know the Serbian literary scene thoroughly enough, let alone the Montenegrin one. In any case, in recent years we have managed to discover several very interesting Montenegrin young authors. I would definitely single out Ilija Đurović and his novel "Sampas", which we published a few years ago and which, for a reason, attracted a lot of attention. In a way, I would again connect that, that event and that novel, with Jun Fosse, first of all because it is a one-sentence novel, and many of Jun Fosse's prose works, including "Septology", and the novel "Morning and evening", are actually one continuous sentence. Well, that's common, although everything else is different between Ilija and Fose in terms of rhythm, subject matter, and so on. Also, I would like to mention that we published Ilija's first collection of poems "Brid", which now has a bilingual German edition, in cooperation with the publisher from Spandau Frukt, Drava Ferlag, as well as Marija Vujošević's book of poems "Igra makazama". They were both winners of our regional poetry contest. We also published a very interesting, also the first novel, by the playwright Milo Masoničić "The End of the Shift"... Based on all that, my impression, as far as the Montenegrin literary scene is concerned, is that interesting things are happening, a lot is being written, recently every year there are more and more female authors who write poetry and who are noticed, not only in Montenegro, but also more widely, and we try to, whenever there is an opportunity, promote these authors in Serbia, so I can announce that this year the guest of our poetry festival, which will be held at the beginning of October in Belgrade, will be another author from Podgorica, Anđela Bulajić, whose book of poetry should be published soon in the edition of "Ratković's evenings of poetry". It is her first collection, and at the same time her first novel should be published by "Raštan" from Belgrade.
I would say that it is important to work on the publishing industry itself in Montenegro, especially when it comes to local authors. I think there is room for some new publishing projects.
How do you see the future of literature, considering various influences, economic, political, technological?
It depends on what the future holds. Even great empires throughout history did not collapse in an instant, there was never a cataclysm that caused an empire to disappear overnight, but years, decades, often even centuries passed that led to decline or collapse. If nothing else, literature has a future in decay, it will last in decay.
Staying in Montenegro is a time for writing
It is also known that you are a poet. How much do you dedicate yourself as a poet?
I'm trying to find time with all the publishing and editorial duties. I am pleased that I can spend a couple of months in Montenegro, so I expect that this August I will be relieved of other obligations and I hope to write something.
The challenge is to switch off and devote yourself to a book on paper
What do you think about e-books, audio format and the like?
I support any form of presentation and consumption of the work. I personally practice audio books, and if necessary, I also read electronic editions. Of course, a book on paper is a special experience and I will definitely never give it up. Let's go back to oral literature, because if we look back, first there was a custom to tell stories, so it was just listened to. The Internet is a big jungle with a lot of challenges and dangers, but also wonderful new things. The Internet attacks our senses with various contents, so the real challenge is to turn it all off and set aside time to read a book in solitude, so that's why I support every type and format of the book.
In addition, we live in a time where we want everything, but quickly and easily, so it's no wonder that popular content on the Internet is in short form, be it aphorisms, wisdom, verses, because in just a few minutes you get the essence, that is, every day a small dose of content instead of isolating yourself and reading some voluminous reading.
Fosse is our contemporary
Would you like to add something to the conversation?
I would like to revisit the current Nobel laureate Jun Fosse and get people interested in his works. There are, let me say, enough of them, all his main works have been translated. In his works there are no mobile phones, no Internet, everything somehow happened or is happening before 2000. At least in those key, prose works. When it comes to drama, that space and time is very specific and much less tangible. Fosse is a writer who, in my opinion, will restore lost reading time and somehow make you pause, regardless of all the chaos of daily obligations, business, family, personal, various to-do lists... And besides , can be read partially, and I believe that it can attract many people. He is a writer who, as he himself said, and this is my impression, someone will like it, and someone will leave his book after 10 pages. I hope that there will be more people who will read the book to the end, because I think that a writer who has something to say at this moment is important, I think that he is our contemporary, regardless of the time distance in which his actions take place and in which the characters of his novels are alive, but he also talks about us.
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