|
Bosnia war heavies become literary
lions |
| By Nicholas Wood International Herald Tribune Tuesday, January 18, 2005 |
BELGRADE
Milorad Ulemek, a first-time novelist, has been a great success, according to
his publisher. In just two weeks, his novel about the war in Bosnia, "Iron
Trench," has sold close to 70,000 copies, a record in Serbia, according to the
publisher, Mihailo Vojnovic.
While pleased with sales, Vojnovic, the director of M Books, concedes that the novel's success may have less do with its content than with its author's notoriety.
Milorad Ulemek is Serbia's most infamous paramilitary soldier, a man human rights groups say was responsible for some the worst atrocities in the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s. He is more commonly known by his nom de guerre, Legija, and is also known as Lukovic, a name he took from his former wife.
As a nationalist writer, he has some competition. Radovan Karadzic, the leader of the Bosnian Serbs during the 1992-95 Bosnian conflict and the man most wanted by the United Nations war crimes tribunal, has also written a novel. On Tuesday, another former president of Bosnian Serb republic, Biljana Plavsic, who is in a Swedish prison serving a sentence for war crimes, is releasing her book about the war.
While Plavsic's book is the only one that sheds any direct light on events of the war, it is the other two novels that have prompted the most acclaim here. Nationalist admirers of Ulemek and Karadzic have declared their works masterpieces of Serbian literature, comparable in style to the works of Albert Camus and James Joyce. Karadzic's "The Miraculous Chronicle of the Night," published in October, was short-listed last year for Serbia's top literary award, the Golden Sunflower.
Such comparisons have provoked indignation among more liberal commentators. Karadzic is widely regarded by diplomats and historians as the chief architect of ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, while Ulemek is seen as one of the policy's principal executioners.
Most commentators are agreed on one thing: the acclaim received by both novels reflects the near mythic status still accorded here to the nationalist figures of 1990s, men who helped tear Yugoslavia apart in wars that killed more than 250,000 people. Both books, their publishers claim, were written while their authors were on the run.
The war crimes tribunal in The Hague believes Karadzic has been on the move between Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro. It is not clear how the manuscript was sent to the publishers.
As for Ulemek, Vojnovic says his wife passed on the manuscript shortly after her husband surrendered to the Serbian police last year in Belgrade. A former commander of the Serbian secret police's military branch, the Red Berets, Ulemek is on trial not for war crimes but for the assassination of Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, who was shot and killed outside his office in March 2003.
Neither the accusations nor Ulumek's war record have deterred readers like Ljiljana Tanic from buying the novel. "It's a philosophical novel, quite similar to Camus's "The Plague," that shows Ulumek's understanding of human suffering," said the bespectacled 67-year-old, who works in a Belgrade bookstore.
The novel tells the story of a Serbian soldier lying critically wounded in a trench. While blatantly anti-Muslim in tone, it questions what was gained by the war in Bosnia. The dedication reads, "To all my compatriots, those who are gone and those who live questioning the meaning of their sacrifice."
The book appears to reveal an intellectual streak in Ulumek hitherto unknown, although some critics have questioned whether the former paramilitary had anything to do with the novel's writing. "I think the last piece of writing Legija did was his school homework," said Zarko Trebjesanin, a psychology professor at Belgrade University.
Karadzic's reputation as a writer is more firmly established. "The Miraculous Chronicle of the Night" is his fourth publication since he went to hiding in 1996. His other recent works include a children's book, a selection of his poetry and a play. This is his first novel, and is centered on Sarajevo in 1980-81. The hero is an engineer who, like Karadzic, is sent to prison at the time of Tito's death.
"It's like Joyce's Dubliners" said Momo Kapor, an artist who illustrated Karadzic's children's book, and a member of the Committee to protect the Truth of Radovan Karadzic, a pro-Karadzic support group. "It is equal to the best pages in Serbian literature," said Kapor. "What makes me really happy is the he has kept his mental abilities. I am so glad that his persecution has not destroyed him."
Kosor said he saw Karadzic as belonging to a long tradition of writers like Ezra Pound or Oscar Wilde who were brilliant authors but were condemned by their contemporaries.
"We would have lost many precious pieces of literature if we ignored condemned authors," he added.
Such praise has angered human rights activists, concerned that almost a decade after the end of the war in Bosnia accused war criminals are being treated like heroes. Natasha Kandic, director of the Humanitarian Law Center, a human rights organization based in Belgrade, said that foreign publishers should have boycotted the Belgrade book fair in October to protest the venue being used to launch Karadzic's novel.
However, for readers like Tanic, the two novels provide a view that echoes their own, depicting Serbia as the victim of international conspiracy.
"People abroad don't know about us," she said. "They are representing us as wild people. They don't know who we really are. These books tell the truth."
According to Kandic, those beliefs are unlikely to dissipate so long as the government refuses to confront Serbia's role in the wars of the 1990s. "We don't have a strong enough public opinion that will offer an alternative story, or politicians who can offer an alternative view of Serbia," she said.
"Serbia is isolated," said Trebjesanin, the psychology professor. "There are many people who are unemployed and who are not happy with the pace of transition" from the Milosevic era. "They are the ones that are sustaining the myth about Karadzic."
As for Vojnovic, Ulumek's publisher, he believes sales of "Iron Trench" can only increase. "When he is sentenced there will be an even bigger demand," Vojnovic said. Two more books by Ulumek will be published this spring.
While pleased with sales, Vojnovic, the director of M Books, concedes that the novel's success may have less do with its content than with its author's notoriety.
Milorad Ulemek is Serbia's most infamous paramilitary soldier, a man human rights groups say was responsible for some the worst atrocities in the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s. He is more commonly known by his nom de guerre, Legija, and is also known as Lukovic, a name he took from his former wife.
As a nationalist writer, he has some competition. Radovan Karadzic, the leader of the Bosnian Serbs during the 1992-95 Bosnian conflict and the man most wanted by the United Nations war crimes tribunal, has also written a novel. On Tuesday, another former president of Bosnian Serb republic, Biljana Plavsic, who is in a Swedish prison serving a sentence for war crimes, is releasing her book about the war.
While Plavsic's book is the only one that sheds any direct light on events of the war, it is the other two novels that have prompted the most acclaim here. Nationalist admirers of Ulemek and Karadzic have declared their works masterpieces of Serbian literature, comparable in style to the works of Albert Camus and James Joyce. Karadzic's "The Miraculous Chronicle of the Night," published in October, was short-listed last year for Serbia's top literary award, the Golden Sunflower.
Such comparisons have provoked indignation among more liberal commentators. Karadzic is widely regarded by diplomats and historians as the chief architect of ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, while Ulemek is seen as one of the policy's principal executioners.
Most commentators are agreed on one thing: the acclaim received by both novels reflects the near mythic status still accorded here to the nationalist figures of 1990s, men who helped tear Yugoslavia apart in wars that killed more than 250,000 people. Both books, their publishers claim, were written while their authors were on the run.
The war crimes tribunal in The Hague believes Karadzic has been on the move between Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro. It is not clear how the manuscript was sent to the publishers.
As for Ulemek, Vojnovic says his wife passed on the manuscript shortly after her husband surrendered to the Serbian police last year in Belgrade. A former commander of the Serbian secret police's military branch, the Red Berets, Ulemek is on trial not for war crimes but for the assassination of Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, who was shot and killed outside his office in March 2003.
Neither the accusations nor Ulumek's war record have deterred readers like Ljiljana Tanic from buying the novel. "It's a philosophical novel, quite similar to Camus's "The Plague," that shows Ulumek's understanding of human suffering," said the bespectacled 67-year-old, who works in a Belgrade bookstore.
The novel tells the story of a Serbian soldier lying critically wounded in a trench. While blatantly anti-Muslim in tone, it questions what was gained by the war in Bosnia. The dedication reads, "To all my compatriots, those who are gone and those who live questioning the meaning of their sacrifice."
The book appears to reveal an intellectual streak in Ulumek hitherto unknown, although some critics have questioned whether the former paramilitary had anything to do with the novel's writing. "I think the last piece of writing Legija did was his school homework," said Zarko Trebjesanin, a psychology professor at Belgrade University.
Karadzic's reputation as a writer is more firmly established. "The Miraculous Chronicle of the Night" is his fourth publication since he went to hiding in 1996. His other recent works include a children's book, a selection of his poetry and a play. This is his first novel, and is centered on Sarajevo in 1980-81. The hero is an engineer who, like Karadzic, is sent to prison at the time of Tito's death.
"It's like Joyce's Dubliners" said Momo Kapor, an artist who illustrated Karadzic's children's book, and a member of the Committee to protect the Truth of Radovan Karadzic, a pro-Karadzic support group. "It is equal to the best pages in Serbian literature," said Kapor. "What makes me really happy is the he has kept his mental abilities. I am so glad that his persecution has not destroyed him."
Kosor said he saw Karadzic as belonging to a long tradition of writers like Ezra Pound or Oscar Wilde who were brilliant authors but were condemned by their contemporaries.
"We would have lost many precious pieces of literature if we ignored condemned authors," he added.
Such praise has angered human rights activists, concerned that almost a decade after the end of the war in Bosnia accused war criminals are being treated like heroes. Natasha Kandic, director of the Humanitarian Law Center, a human rights organization based in Belgrade, said that foreign publishers should have boycotted the Belgrade book fair in October to protest the venue being used to launch Karadzic's novel.
However, for readers like Tanic, the two novels provide a view that echoes their own, depicting Serbia as the victim of international conspiracy.
"People abroad don't know about us," she said. "They are representing us as wild people. They don't know who we really are. These books tell the truth."
According to Kandic, those beliefs are unlikely to dissipate so long as the government refuses to confront Serbia's role in the wars of the 1990s. "We don't have a strong enough public opinion that will offer an alternative story, or politicians who can offer an alternative view of Serbia," she said.
"Serbia is isolated," said Trebjesanin, the psychology professor. "There are many people who are unemployed and who are not happy with the pace of transition" from the Milosevic era. "They are the ones that are sustaining the myth about Karadzic."
As for Vojnovic, Ulumek's publisher, he believes sales of "Iron Trench" can only increase. "When he is sentenced there will be an even bigger demand," Vojnovic said. Two more books by Ulumek will be published this spring.
