Literary Evening of Contemporary
Croatian writers, multiple award winners, Nikola Petković and Zoran Ferić,
entitled “Od učke gore do Crne Gore” was held at the National Library of
Montenegro “Đurđe Crnojević” in Cetinje on Friday, September 6.
Zoran Ferić, the current
president of the Croatian Writers' Society, spoke about his work with special
emphasis on the book “Alone by the Sea”, whose main characters are the
legendary Dalmatian seagulls.
“The texts in this book have been
created in the period from 2009 to fall 2015. Taking rest from the work on a
large-scale novel, I’ve begun to record casually the events from the milieu of
young men who were seducing foreign women on the island of Rab between 1976 and
1989. That's why, apart from the character of the people, they hopefully
outline a larger character: the island itself.”, said Ferić and added that he
owes to this island thirty beautiful summers, an encounter with a woman of his
life, a nice and long friendship with the people with whom he was related, and
an obsessive literary theme.
Mr. Ferić pointed out that
although some of the nicknames used in the book exist in reality, they are,
like names and events, largely a product of his imagination.
Nikola Petković, winner of the
T-portal's literary award for the best Croatian novel in 2019, spoke about his
awarded book “Trip to Gonars”.
The story of the novel, which is
autobiographical but with fictional elements, occurs in the Croatian city of Bakar
during the World War II, when in the middle of the night a young woman has been
taken to Gonars, a fascist camp in Italy which was intended for Yugoslav and
Russian officers.
“The convention was respected to
a decent degree. After that, ethnic cleansing has come and my grandmother and
her friend Zora went to the camp because someone from Bakar had shown them that
they had been carrying drugs to the partisans”, said Petković who regrets that
when he had someone to talk to about it, he didn't realize the importance of
the data, and when it has started to interest him, everyone was already dead.
Fortunately, as he points out, he
has found his grandfather's notebook.
“He left me his diary that has
been written “not to be forgotten”, in which he documented short stories,
completely non-idealized, that he went through during the war, from his own perspective.
This “not black and white” approach has prompted me to write a book in which I
would address this issue without idealization”, he explained.
It is interesting to note that,
according to Mr. Petković, this novel was a kind of “pay back” since his
grandmother never wanted to reveal who showed them off.
Showing the continuation of many
years of successful cultural cooperation, the event was organized by the
National Library of Montenegro “Đurđe Crnojevic”, Cetinje, and the Union of
Montenegrins of Croatia, Rijeka, while the moderator was prof. Višnja
Višnjić-Karković, Senior Expert Advisor at the City of Rijeka, Department of
Culture.
Literary Evening of Contemporary Croatian writers, multiple award winners, Nikola Petković and Zoran Ferić, entitled “Od učke gore do Crne Gore” was held at the National Library of Montenegro “Đurđe Crnojević” in Cetinje on Friday, September 6.
Zoran Ferić, the current president of the Croatian Writers' Society, spoke about his work with special emphasis on the book “Alone by the Sea”, whose main characters are the legendary Dalmatian seagulls.
“The texts in this book have been created in the period from 2009 to fall 2015. Taking rest from the work on a large-scale novel, I’ve begun to record casually the events from the milieu of young men who were seducing foreign women on the island of Rab between 1976 and 1989. That's why, apart from the character of the people, they hopefully outline a larger character: the island itself.”, said Ferić and added that he owes to this island thirty beautiful summers, an encounter with a woman of his life, a nice and long friendship with the people with whom he was related, and an obsessive literary theme.
Mr. Ferić pointed out that although some of the nicknames used in the book exist in reality, they are, like names and events, largely a product of his imagination.
Nikola Petković, winner of the T-portal's literary award for the best Croatian novel in 2019, spoke about his awarded book “Trip to Gonars”.
The story of the novel, which is autobiographical but with fictional elements, occurs in the Croatian city of Bakar during the World War II, when in the middle of the night a young woman has been taken to Gonars, a fascist camp in Italy which was intended for Yugoslav and Russian officers.
“The convention was respected to a decent degree. After that, ethnic cleansing has come and my grandmother and her friend Zora went to the camp because someone from Bakar had shown them that they had been carrying drugs to the partisans”, said Petković who regrets that when he had someone to talk to about it, he didn't realize the importance of the data, and when it has started to interest him, everyone was already dead.
Fortunately, as he points out, he has found his grandfather's notebook.
“He left me his diary that has been written “not to be forgotten”, in which he documented short stories, completely non-idealized, that he went through during the war, from his own perspective. This “not black and white” approach has prompted me to write a book in which I would address this issue without idealization”, he explained.
It is interesting to note that, according to Mr. Petković, this novel was a kind of “pay back” since his grandmother never wanted to reveal who showed them off.
Showing the continuation of many years of successful cultural cooperation, the event was organized by the National Library of Montenegro “Đurđe Crnojevic”, Cetinje, and the Union of Montenegrins of Croatia, Rijeka, while the moderator was prof. Višnja Višnjić-Karković, Senior Expert Advisor at the City of Rijeka, Department of Culture.