How was the book created and how long did you work on it?
Unlike most of my published books of poetry so far - and I have a total of eight of them - "Perina" was not created as a result of any predetermined concept. The poems in it somehow spontaneously, by periods, formed into separate cycles: about the long past, about the scourge of terrorism... Nevertheless, I think that the "backbone" of this book is formed by two cycles of my "oversongs" of the brilliant documentary prose of Nobel laureate Svetlana Aleksievich and a large cycle about walks, that is, exercises for walking with a prosthesis. Namely, sometimes very interesting things happened to me on those walks. That's why "Perina" took a little longer to create than most of my earlier titles.
What is literature for you?
Well, you know, it kind of broke down that for me, literature is much more than writing. I am a professor of literature by profession, so that, in a certain way, determined my life. In addition, in the most difficult situations - the war, which I spent a large part of in Konjic, then the amputation of my leg - writing helped me a lot to, without conscious intention, expel many frustrations and fears from myself and to remain as much as "myself", i.e. normal, in those difficult circumstances.
Do you have any literary role models?
No, not role models. But there are many writers, both contemporary and those who are no longer with us, whom I sincerely admire and respect very much. And which ones, it's like asking a great gourmet what dish he likes the most. This way, as they say: "from the top of my head", I will list the names of Rabelais, Homer, Shakespeare... And Andrić, Crnjanski, Marquez, Llosa... Recently, I enjoy reading the prose of the Italian Curcio Malaparte. From ours, there are Miljenko Jergović, Bekim Serjanović, Darko Cvijetić, Elvedin Nezirović... My dear poets are, among others, Enver Kazaz and Almin Kaplan.
What literary forms do you find most comfortable with?
Although many consider me primarily a poet, without false modesty I believe that I have also written some, let's say, solid things in prose. Here I am primarily referring to diary prose: anti-war, "Ljepo gore slicici marxizm" and the patient's diary "Three Heftes to Heaven". However, I am not giving up the travel book "Rahat in Dokkum" and the recently published story book "Jesus on the Doorstep" either by chance.
Are you currently writing anything new?
After a short hiatus, I'm writing columns again, which I mostly publish on the website Prometej.ba, or on my website: goransaric.net. These come to me as little stylistic exercises, in which I react to current events that seem important to me. Because I believe that the writer must not be deaf or blind to the events around him, especially when the car goes downhill. And do I need to convince you that our beautiful planet has been "rolling on the wrong side" for a long time?
What does your writing process look like?
The most important thing for me is to have a basic idea and the skeleton of the story/poem. The rest comes naturally. Often the text takes me down a completely unexpected path, and I am surprised myself later by what I have written down. Those are the best texts.
Do you follow the domestic literary scene – and what do you mean by it?
I largely answered that when I listed the names of some of my favorite writers. And for me, the domestic literary scene consists of everyone who writes in the same, or, if you really insist - a similar language. After all, let everyone call him what he wants. It is important that we understand each other, write and read.
What are you reading right now?
I am currently reading an important, extraordinary book by Slavko Goldstein: "1941, the year that returns". I dare say everyone should read that book. In it, the description of historical events and literature meet in the best possible way. Eh, if people, even nations, would learn something from their mistakes...
Choose one poem, by any poet.
SUMATRA
Now we are carefree, easy and gentle.
Let's think: how quiet, snowy they are
the peaks of the Urals.
If some pale figure saddens us,
that we lost him one night,
we know that, somewhere, some stream
Instead of him, a rosy stream flows!
One love at a time, morning, abroad,
It twists our soul, ever tighter,
the endless peace of the blue seas,
from which red coral grains,
like, from the homeland, cherries.
Let's wake up at night and smile, dear,
to the moon with a bow attached.
And we caress the distant hills
and icebergs, gently, by hand.
Milos Crnjanski