A friend from college asked me to send her my books and said her
cousin, Goran, would pick them up, since he was passing through Loznica. We
arranged to meet for a coffee. It was easy to spot him: mid-thirties, prison
haircut, a T-shirt with huge print, flashy sneakers. I struggled to understand
why anyone who’s no longer in his teens would wear flashy sneakers anywhere
outside the gym. We ordered coffee and I put the books on the table. He looked
at them with a fair amount of skepticism...
(What follows is our conversation that ensued. The abridged version.)
- Sooo, you write?
-
Yeah…
-
What about?
-
The Slavs.
-
Oh, so you write about the
Serbs? That’s a good topic.
-
Not the Serbs, the Slavs.
-
I get it, I get it, you write
about us.
-
Yes, all of us.
-
So, the Yugoslavs.
- Not just the Yugoslavs, the Slavs in general… actually, I write
about Slavic gods and Slavic mythology.
(he laughs and takes the books, looks at
them and frowns at the stylized kolovrat)
- Isn’t this that symbol of Hitler’s?
- No.
-
What do you mean “no”? This
looks awfully like a swastika to me.
-
That’s a kolovrat.
-
Kolo-what?
-
Kolovrat, the symbol of Svarog.
-
Who’s that?
-
The supreme god of the Old
Slavs.
-
Are you trying to say that the
Slavs are fascists?
- (fascists???) Of course not.
The Nazis just borrowed the swastika symbol. It is a really powerful symbol. It
represents… (he opens The Scent of Legacy
and takes a look at the prologue)
-
What’s this, Rügen, the Federal
Republic of Germany? Is that where the plot takes place?
-
Most of the time.
-
So you’re writing about us
being supporters of Hitler?
-
Excuse me?
-
Well, first there was that
fascist symbol (fascist??), and now there’s Germany.
-
Actually, the plot takes place
on the Cape Arkona. And that’s not a Nazi symbol, kolovrat is a major symbol in
many ancient religions.
-
So that’s why you named your
trilogy Arkona?
-
Well, yeah…
-
Why Arkona? Why didn’t you come
up with a nicer name?
-
Well, that’s what the cape is
called. It was the last stronghold of the Old Slavs… The fortress, the temples…
-
Well, I’ve never heard of that,
and I go to Munich all the time.
-
Not many people have heard of
it. I didn’t know the whole story about the Ruyans and the Cape Arkona myself.
I discovered it a couple of years ago.
-
Who the hell are the Ruyans?
-
That’s what they called the
Slavs who lived on the Cape Arkona.
-
In Germany?
-
Yes, in Germany.
-
Hahaha, that’s right, I
remember reading somewhere that the Germans are actually of Serbian origin.
-
That’s simply not true.
-
If it’s not true, why do you
say that the Serbs and those Slavs of yours lived in Germany?
-
That’s because the Slavs really
lived there. The Baltic Slavs.
-
Never heard of that.
-
That’s what they called the
ones living on the coast of the Baltic Sea.
-
Who cares about them? You
should write about us only.
-
Well, I care, because I’m a
Slav, I love my origin and I respect all Slavic peoples.
-
Yeah, you know what they say,
combined with the Russians, there are 300 million of us.
-
Haha, there’s a lot more, the
Russians are not the only Slavs out there.
-
Right, right, the former
Yugoslavia, apart from the Croats, and then there’s Belarus, and Russia…
there’s quite a lot of us.
-
And Ukraine, Bulgaria, Croatia,
Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and the Ruthenes and the Lusatian Serbs…
-
Hahahaha, what do the Czech and
the Polish have to do with us?
-
Are you kidding me?
-
Nope, why?
-
How could you ask something
like that? What do you think they are?
-
Well, it’s far more likely that
they’re Germans.
-
Germans? Like Germanic people?
-
Oh, you stubborn woman, I don’t
know if they are Germanic or not, but they’re catholic, so they can’t be Slavs!
-
Religion has nothing to do with
someone’s origin. The Slavs can be orthodox, catholic, protestant or Muslim
when it comes to religion.
-
Muslims? Are you trying to say
that someone who performs Salah instead of praying to Jesus has the same origin
as you and I?
-
Exactly, the new religions came
much later.
-
What kind of Slavs would
convert to Islam and Catholicism? I’ve been to Prague and Poland several times,
and I’m telling you, they have nothing to do with us, it’s more likely they’re
Germans. The Latin alphabet, hello! They’re not like our orthodox brothers.
-
Have you ever spent a holiday
in Greece?
-
I spend all my summers in
Greece. I feel right at home there.
-
And you understand their
language?
-
No way, I only learned ela and elo, but everyone speaks Serbian there…
-
And when you were in Prague or
Warsaw, could you understand a word or two?
-
Well, yeah, it’s like some
weird kind of Serbian, like Slovak.
-
And you understand Russian most
of the time?
-
Well, yes, they use the
Cyrillic alphabet like we do.
-
And the Croats, they don’t use
the Cyrillic alphabet, but you understand everything, right?
-
Of course I do, apart from
those new words they keep making up.
-
So, when you go to Greece,
which is an orthodox country, you can’t understand a word they’re saying?
(he squints, processing the information)
-
And when you go to Poland,
which is a catholic country, you understand some words?
-
So, what you’re trying to tell
me is that I should be fonder of the Czechs than of my orthodox Greek
brothers?
-
No, what I’m trying to tell you
is that you have the same origin as the Western Slavs, since we all originate
from the Proto-Slavs. That’s why you should respect all Slavs, regardless of
their religion.
-
Let me tell you something,
sister, I’d quit writing if I were you. Who cares about those Proto-Slavs and
the origin…
-
Isn’t it nice to understand the
origin of your blood? To know that you belong to one of the oldest peoples in
the world? How do you expect others to respect you when you yourself don’t care
about your roots and tradition?
(he sits in silence and starts flipping through the books again)
- So, practically, what you’re
telling us in your books is that we are all one.
-
Well, yes, indirectly. Purpure,
the main character, she’s a descendant of all Slavic peoples. However, what I
write about is Slavic mythology, our ancient gods, myths, customs… I just
employ a somewhat different approach.
-
You are writing about us being
pagans.
-
Well, that’s what we were once.
Although I’m not that fond of that term.
-
Savages, then.
-
We weren’t savages, we were
simply polytheists. You see, in my books, the Slavic gods are present in
today’s world…
-
Are you in a sect?
-
Of course not. Why would you
think that?
-
Well, you’re writing about some
ancient gods being real. You’re writing against the church.
-
Dude, I write fiction. I’m not
writing against the church, I’m just trying to find a more simple way to
introduce people to our original faith.
-
Original faith? Paganism, you
mean. Why in the world would we need that?
-
So we could know who we were
2000 years ago. So we could realize how interesting our own mythology is… Let
me ask you, do you know who Zeus is?
-
Of course.
-
And Perun?
-
A pagan god.
-
What about Aphrodite, Apollo?
-
Sure I do, they’re Greek
deities.
-
And Thor, Loki?
-
Hahaha, I’m a fan of The Avengers,
of course I know who Thor is.
-
So, do you believe that The Avengers are speaking against the
church, since they place Thor in today’s world?
-
Well, no…
-
And do you know who Lada,
Svantovit and Dazhbog are?
-
No, but I’m sure they’re some
gods of yours.
-
So you are familiar with Greek
and Nordic mythology, but not your own?
-
‘Cause there are no movies
about it.
-
That’s what I’m trying to tell
you, my book is not a movie, but it is still a modern story.
(he shakes his head)
- And
what do these gods do in your books? Do they fight?
-
Among other things…
-
And the fights are between…?
-
The gods of Yav fight against
the gods of Nav.
-
What are those?
-
Yav is where the good guys come
from, and Nav is the home of the bad guys.
-
And they all have supernatural,
magical powers, spears and stuff?
-
Well, yeah…
(he laughs out loud)
- So,
that’s kinda like Lord of the Rings?
-
No, epic fantasy is not my
genre.
-
Well, it sounds a lot like WoW…
-
Not everything is epic fantasy.
There are a lot of different subgenres.
-
It’s good that it’s not like
LotR, I hate that movie, boring as hell. Anyway, I’m glad I’ve met you, I
haven’t laughed this much in a while. I can’t believe my cousin paid for this.
You’re really lucky, having all that spare time to write about things no one
cares about.
-
You know what, actually, I
write about sex.
(suddenly, he looks at me with admiration and excitement and starts
flipping through books with much more enthusiasm)
- You’ve got sex in here?
-
That’s right.
(he’s carefully turning the pages)
-
The real kind?
-
The real kind.
-
Fifty Shades of Gray real?
-
Not really, but there’s sex
alright.
-
Where? (he grins)
-
Somewhere in there, Purpure and
Lirai are screwing their brains out.
-
Who’s Lirai?
-
Actually, he’s the Slavic god
of war and spring. Yarilo.
-
Yarilo?
-
Yup.
-
You couldn’t come up with a
better name? It sounds ridiculous.
-
I didn’t make it up, that’s
what the Slavs called him. Yar means
rage, fury, and he’s the god of war…
- Either way, it’s stupid, it should’ve been something awesome, like
Thor (still carefully flipping through the books). I’m not surprised that
people don’t care about Slavic mythology. All the gods have such stupid names.
- You know what, I was wrong…
- About what?
- You’re not a Slav at all (I get up and I’m ready to leave). I’ve got
to go.
-
Wait a second, what do you mean
by that?
-
Well, the Slavs normally don’t
have such a small… (I was going to say brain,
but by the look of his face, I am pretty certain he’s expecting something else)
-
Small… what?!
-
Thumbs!
He looks at his hands, utterly perplexed.
- You’re serious?
-
As a heart attack.
- So what does that make me?
(a fool!!!)
- How should I know, I haven’t got a PhD in genetics, I’m just a silly
writer. Try googling “small thumbs”.
I walk away as he stares at the Google
search results. I smile naughtily, knowing what Google will tell him.
Note to self: Stop trying
to explain to people what your books are about. Life’s too short.
*
