The last event of the literary segment "Bar Chronicle" was the first Montenegrin promotion of the novel "Cinnamon Letters, Diamond Creatures" Faruk Sehić, one of the most important and most translated contemporary authors from Bosnia and Herzegovina. The book was presented to the public on Saturday evening in the "Ivo Vučković" National Library and Reading Room.
Moderator of the evening, literary critic and selector of the literary segment "Ljetopisa" Dragana Erjavšek she reminded that Šehić's new book is a "hybrid novel, a labyrinth novel", as the literary critic called it Dennis Derk.
"This is a literary maelstrom in which one finds one's way, in which we enter unprepared, we leave even more unprepared, but richer for other people's experiences that coincide with ours, for a bunch of tributes, some music that, perhaps, to some extent, we have forgotten and for the bitterness that we recognized as our own, even though the author dressed it up in formal clothes. First of all, this is a novel about ruins, literally and metaphorically, about a new birth which in this case is not exclusively from ashes but also from water; a novel about renewals, about continuation and a little about love", said Erjavšek.
Šehić emphasized that he is satisfied with his new book, but that he often thinks about how it will affect the readers individually. Although he used his own and other people's war experiences in the story, everything is wrapped in science fiction. He points out that the problem with war and tragedy is that they flow into even those who think they are not interested in it, and he believes that it is important to face the past, regardless of how difficult it was.
"It is the fruit of fiction. That city never existed, but I made it up from Sarajevo, Mostar, Gornji Vakuf, Bosanska Krupa... places I've been to, but also some others that I've seen through movies or some other art and that have poured into me . My heroine Sinemon calls that city Orvel, after my favorite writer, because he is a visionary writer whose works we read to this day. That city is neither a dead nor a living being, just as war is a being, but I don't look at it from a human perspective", reveals Šehić, and explains why he romanticizes and glorifies the ruins.
"He believes that ruinophilia (love of ruins) is nostalgia for times and places that did not exist. It sounds strange, but I realized that I love it. Empty, abandoned cities, emptied of people, have a certain charm in them. Whoever wants to develop his intimacy, must be alone", believes Šehić.
The writing of the novel "Cinnamon Letters, Diamond Creatures" began in Cetinje, and he explained that the book has eleven endings, and that the reader is left with the opportunity to choose his own.
"Many of these regions are not regions in fact. Considering that it is a complex novel, I wanted to get the feeling of an epic duration", concluded Šehić.
Excerpts from the novel were read by Nikoleta Dabanović with great inspiration.
Bonus video:
