"I wanted to write a novel about how difficult it is to distinguish truth from lies and stand up to evil. I wanted to show how certain choices, which seem simple to the observer, can be unclear and insurmountable. Finally, for my own sake, I wanted to explain why such things happen and why they are difficult to face." — Buybook's editor Ena Hasečić spoke with Czech author Alena Mornštajnova on the occasion of the publication of her latest novel Šuma u kuci in Bosnian. The interview, like the novel, was translated from Czech by Ljiljana Halilović .
Your previous works – like the novel Hana – are socially engaged and set in a specific historical context. Why did you decide to write a novel like this, which is stylistically different from your previous ones, is much more concise, and as such has become very popular in a short period of time, opened up many questions, and in a way became controversial.
I wanted to write a book about where the bad in us comes from. The forest in the house is a book about evil, about how difficult it is to detect evil, and even more difficult - but not impossible - to defend against it.
You are right that this is my most concise novel, and the time and place in which it is set is not emphasized, because none of it is fundamentally important. What happens in the book could happen - and, unfortunately, does - at any time and in any place. At the same time, this is a book about the lies that evil creates. In the Czech edition, even the inside cover of the book indicates a lie. The original title of the book, Les v dôme , was changed to Lež v dôme , so that the reader knows what he will encounter in the book. The play on the words LES (forest) and LEŽ (lie) is, unfortunately, one of the things that usually gets lost in translation .
Whatever book I write – a family saga, a historical drama, an alternative history or a psychological novel, my focus is always on the family. The family is the place from which we all step into the outside world, a place that to a certain extent shapes and determines who we are, how we manage to find our way in the outside world. It is much more difficult to cope with what happens to us in life if we do not have the solid support of our family, if our loved ones are not our support but, on the contrary, those who hurt us. This thought is not new or represents a discovery, but it still provokes what you mention in your question: controversy and constant discussion, among other things, about whether a book hurts people who have experienced something similar. It is strange that no one is bothered by detective novels, thrillers, horrors where someone is constantly being wounded and killed and where rivers of blood flow, but they are bothered by a book in which an individual tries to break the chain of evil.
When we talk about the characters in the novel, an interesting question is which of them was the most difficult and interesting to shape? Is it the girl from whose perspective we are reading the novel? A mother who was dependent on others all her life and never fully found and fulfilled herself? Or maybe the grandparents whose behavior we cannot justify until the end of the novel?
For me, the most interesting character in the novel is the mother. At one point, I considered giving her a voice, having her also be the narrator of part of the story to explain her motives and perspective on the overall situation, but then I realized that would undermine the aforementioned conciseness of the book and distract attention from the main character.
I was very surprised that many readers deeply hate and condemn the heroine's grandmother, and almost leave out the grandfather. That was very shocking to me. Of course, the grandmother bore her share of the blame, but at the same time she was the only one who at least took care of the girl a little. From the literature I studied, I realized that she was also a victim, that she behaved according to the pattern that people in her situation behave. Which, of course, does not excuse her. She could and should have been the one to stop the evil, but she still did not.
At the moment when the main character talks about everything that happened in her childhood and the events that changed her life, nothing significant happens, although, as she herself states, she believed that when the words were spoken out loud, the world would collapse. I thought the wind would pick up and blow the forest away. I thought that the fire would flare up and burn the world to ashes, that nothing would ever be the same again. Why do you think that is? When did we humans lose empathy, even for our fellow man?
Everyone lies in that family. They lie not only to each other, but also to themselves. They lie to everyone around them. They convince the little girl with lies that the world outside her family is evil, that she is in danger. They don't want their creepy secret, which everyone knows even though they pretend it's not, to come out. The environment perceives the family as one of many, it has no idea what is happening in it, and the girl does not confide in anyone, because she has no idea that she could. Her only weapon is a lie. She is afraid to ask for help, she considers herself an accomplice. It is very difficult to help a man who refuses help, no matter what his reasons are.
We, the readers, follow her story from a distance and with the experience of an adult who, comfortably seated in her armchair, already knows something about the world. We must understand that the heroine of the book is just a frightened child. When she finally finds the strength to speak, she is met with distrust. We have no choice but to hope that in this case it is an individual failure, not a system failure.
Despite the fact that your sentences are short and the novel is not rich in descriptions, the reader is not deprived here. He can imagine what you are writing about in detail. I wonder if you wanted to leave space for readers to interpret certain actions in accordance with their own life experiences?
As a reader, I don't like long descriptions. Sometimes a detail, one well-written sentence, is enough to describe the atmosphere. I write quite slowly and read the text several times aloud, crossing out sentences or words that break their rhythm.
At the beginning of work on a book, there is a topic that interests me at that moment, and only then do I research it and come up with a story. Then I choose narrators, I like to use the technique of multiple narrators to offer the reader different perspectives of the same events. Sometimes I opt for the so-called omniscient narrator, which allows me to also tell what is hidden beyond the horizon accessible to the book's characters. The tone, atmosphere and tempo of the story are determined by the theme and these elements are created only in the writing process. I create characters, but I never judge them. Each reader must make his own judgment. As an author, it is interesting for me to observe how readers' judgments about individual characters differ.
You are the author of six novels and several books for children, including the picture book Kapljica Aja . Many authors state that writing children's books is a real challenge. How was this process for you?
I have already written three books for children, and three more are being prepared for publication. I never planned to write children's books, but while I was writing Hana , a book about a Jewish woman who had a difficult fate, I needed something lighter for the sake of my own mental health. And children's books are a return to a brighter world full of fantasy and humor. I enjoy writing them, which I hope you can feel in them, because the little readers received them very well. I can also thank my illustrator Galina Mikinova for that, who creates the characters of my heroes.
You are a real literary star in the Czech Republic, and your novels are among the most translated. Are you currently working on a new book, and does the above create any pressure in that process?
Yes, I'm working on a new book and again it's a topic I'm thinking a lot about now. Writing has become a part of my life. If I'm not traveling, I'm writing almost every day. I could probably count the days I don't write on the fingers of one hand. When I write, I think about that topic, about the story, I think about the characters, their motives, feelings, thoughts, and not about the readers who will one day read that story. Writing is a free territory for me, I never allow anyone to tell me what and how I should write. I myself bear the responsibility for the result. My books are a part of me that I sent out into the world. Readers can take them or leave them. Their choice. After all, like everything in life.
Finally, what are you currently reading and which contemporary Czech authors would you recommend to readers in Bosnia and Herzegovina?
I am currently reading books on the subject I am dealing with in the new novel. And when we talk about Czech authors, it depends on the reader's taste - I, for example, like books by Markéta Hejkalova, Viktorija Hanišová or Petra Dvořáková.
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Author's photo © Vojtĕch Vlk