Vladislav Bajac, laureate of the "Stefan Mitrov Ljubiša" award: Literature as the greatest freedom

The literary program of the XXXIX edition of the Grad Teatar festival officially began last night at Poet's Square in Budva's Old Town. In the presence of numerous literature lovers and the cultural public, the ceremony was marked by the presentation of the prestigious "Stefan Mitrov Ljubiša" award for 2024/2025, which this year went to the prominent novelist Vladislav Bajac.

The award, which is given for exceptional literary creativity and contribution to contemporary literature, was presented to Bajc by the director of the City Theatre Public Institution. Milena Lubarda Marojević in recognition of his rich oeuvre and authentic contribution to Serbian and regional literature.

The attendees were first addressed by the editor-in-chief of the festival program. Svetlana Ivanovic who said that this year's festival motto "The Truth Must Rise to the Sun" focused attention on authors who, through the uniqueness of their voices or choice of topics, question standardized facts, problematizing precisely what is remembered by official history and promoted by official authorities, what is silenced, seemingly forgotten and hidden, but also inartfully emerges in the form of a literary or other relevant work.

"In this way, we believe that literature, like other artistic disciplines, becomes a reliable ally in understanding the complicated global and local social circumstances that we witness every day, but also an unquestionable guide to the authentic values ​​that prove us as human beings. Beings who are not guided only by passions and personal interests, but by reason and awareness of the common good."

In addition to the winners of the “Stefan Mitrov Ljubiša” award, the guests of the Poet's Square were also members of the jury for the award, Prof. Dr. Tatjana Đurišić, prof. Ph.D Vesna Goldsworthy and the president of the jury, Prof. Dr. Zoran Paunović who announced the explanation for the award.

"Although he first made his mark in literature as a poet back in 1972, with poetry that convincingly indicated the talent of its creator, in the following decades Bajac would build his literary reputation primarily as a prose writer, in whose narrative oeuvre, Eastern and Western cultural traditions, past and present, imagination and reality intertwine in an artistically fruitful way, with their harmonious harmony giving rise to a completely unique, powerful and striking artistic vision. The strength of that vision has been a constant feature of our laureate's oeuvre since his early collections of short stories," said Paunović, adding that the jury's decision was unanimous.

"The decision is undoubtedly supported by the reputation that Vladislav Bajac has built as a publisher, translator and critical thinker, whose words are always listened to with attention and deeply respected. Therefore, on behalf of the entire jury, we express our sincere satisfaction that Vladislav Bajac joins the ranks of prominent literary creators who have won the 'Stefan Mitrov Ljubiša' award over the past three decades, today as a laureate who will, we are convinced, significantly contribute to further raising the reputation of this internationally recognized and highly valued literary award of which the City of Theatre, Budva and Montenegro are proud for many reasons."

Bajac pointed out that he did not expect the award at all because he thought it exceeded his normality or modesty.

"But others decided that, and when a person finds themselves in this situation and if they are at all normal, then perhaps it is better to talk about others than about themselves. Because that has always been difficult, except when we get to grips with literature and begin to discover the small and large secrets of factography and imagination. Fortunately, literature does not have to prove anything, it can only show and tell its stories, which are, as I see and know, the greatest possible freedom that a person can experience, and I guess that development, if it exists in writing, then I guess the conquest of that freedom is also partial, gradual, systematic and never conquered, which is essentially the most important thing. Because that path, as we know, is the essence. It is not reaching the goal," said Bajac.

Prof. Dr. Vesna Goldsvorti said that for her, Vladislav Bajac is "a writer of place, a writer of space, and a writer of the East and the West."

"Since in my books I deal with East and West at the same time and with these encounters and parallels, I am very aware of the fact that the difference is in a way the vastness of East and West in his work. The Far East - Japan, the Far West - America, from the first to the last book, the translations that I know of. And Geopoetics is unique to me in that, in the fact that it is a publisher that marks a place as a topos of literature. In a way, it is wonderful in receiving this award, that you have a publisher who transfers his poetics to a publishing house, and also writes about it," said Goldsworthy, to which Bajac replied that he has obsessive themes.

"For many years, when literature was politicized, I was accused of being a cosmopolitan. I never understood what that meant, but I was discovered late that I knew and that I was a Serb. But I tend to joke about all serious things, even when I use knowledge and imagination. It's a special kind of joke, because I was always guided by what they are when it comes to topos. So, that knowledge or the background or the hiddenness of where a person is. I was not fond of literature that writes about moving glasses from point A to point B and makes introspection out of it. There are few outstanding writers in that field, so I bow to them, but generally speaking, I always thought that knowledge was terribly important, and that it was used without burden in literature and that it should not overcome the imaginary that is abused from those facts. Places were actually my life. Maybe that's why I stayed in Belgrade, because I always felt at home anywhere. There are always some circumstances that determine those destinies, but when I think about my "I didn't care whether I decided to be here or there. The only thing I haven't tried yet is a monastery, Christian, Orthodox, Buddhist, but I have the impression that I will either end up there or pass by it in a different way. Places are places to visit, they exist for us just as we exist for them, and this ideal of preserving a good relationship between topography, geography and imagination is actually the essence of literature. We all just have different packaging, and I think we are always talking about the same thing, even though those same things are common places, no matter how common they are, that is a sign that the writer is better," Bajac explained.

Prof. Dr. Tatjana Đurišić said that it was a great pleasure for her to address the audience at Poet's Square, another space, or chronotope, extremely semiotic and significant for Montenegrin culture, and that she was honored to have worked as part of this jury.

"I would also like to thank the City Theatre for this opportunity. We have just heard a phraseology that begins the novel 'Shooting in the Empty Space', and that is - pulling the tongue. This is a writer who has a very good sense of language and you can simply feel his erudition in everything he writes, and you can also feel his reflection on language and what language can do and how something that is present evokes so many things that are absent," said Đurišić and asked Bajac to explain to the audience why irony plays a big role in his work, as well as the function of phraseology. Bajac replied that irony is better than cynicism and that he does not view irony as a negative phenomenon.

"It's just another tool for playing with words. You also mentioned that story of language, tongue-twisters. In fact, in that last book, in one layer of the book parallel to several other layers, I played with language. Yes, lingua, language and physical language. Of course, these games between multiple meanings are on the verge of being humorous, although sometimes they can be unpleasant, but there is a field of terribly beautiful experimentation. Language is a miracle, it changes, it is such a living thing that it allows for anything and everything, even when you use it in absurd situations," Bajac replied, adding that he would escape into the deep past and write about something he had not dared to write about before.

"It's about love. It always seemed to me like a prosaic topic, and we all live it. Love and death are probably the two most natural topics in literature and theater, but certainly these contrasts or differences in writing books are actually perhaps the best indicator of that liberation, because this offer that a person can jump from one to the other without being a total jerk is truly magnificent."

A discussion with the audience followed, after which the evening was rounded off by Prof. Dr. Zoran Paunović, who said that literary awards do not exist for writers, but for readers.

"Literary awards exist to draw readers' attention to great works that deserve attention. I invite you to continue attending these wonderful conversations at Poets' Square, and to read the works of Vladislav Bajc in between," concluded Paunović.