Literatura in cenzura - Društvo za primerjalno književnost - ZRC SAZU

Literature and Censorship: Who is Afraid of the Truth of Literature?same method in Orest (Orestes; 1962), bringing a subjective view and a philosophicalperspective to bear on a well-known myth. Another Yugoslavpoet and playwright, Velimir Lukić, reinvented mythological environmentsin order to write political satires replete with allusions and ambiguities. Hestarted with verse paraphrases of the Iphigenia and Philoctetes myths, buthe preferred to create his own imaginary kingdoms in which people areturned into paradigms, theses, and antitheses of his political obsessions.The idea is also present in Lukić’s Bertove kočije ili Sibila (Bert’s Coach orSybil; 1963), Valpurgijska noć (Walpurgis Night; 1964), and Afera nedužneAnabele (The Affair of Innocent Annabella; 1970), as if he were rewritingthe same play about totalitarian power, tyrants, corrupt ministers, andfailed revolutionaries whose rebellion proves to be senseless because theregime continues under the guise of eternal harmony. Lukić continuedalong this line, obsessed with political power and using the ambiance ofancient Rome or some imagined country, but in a less absurd and farcicalmanner. Paradoxically, Lukić realized his vision while remaining in leadingpositions at the National Theatre in Belgrade for many years.240Silent censorshipHristić’s “lively” reinterpretation of Greek mythology and Lukić’s invented,grim mythology of cyclic state tyranny and terror created a publicspace for coded commentaries on Yugoslav society. The country had noinstitutionalized censorship. Because power shifted back and forth betweenthe party’s conservative and liberal factions, with frequent changesin the political climate, what was tolerated at one moment became prohibitedthe next. Furthermore, the federal structure of the country andincreasing rivalry between the party elites and their bureaucratic bodies inthe six federal republics led to varying standards: a publication banned inone republic could be published in another; a banned production couldbe transferred to one of the other republics and could even win a prize ata festival there. Finally, alternative theatres would be tolerated as long asthey had no countrywide impact and public.Informal political censorship nonetheless had great power in restrictingthe intellectual and artistic freedom of Yugoslav theatre artists. Accordingto some recent statistics and research done on dissident theatre, morethan seventy theatre productions were banned and censored in Yugoslaviabetween 1945 and 1991, but only two by means of court orders. 4 Playsand productions were often banned before opening, or in the midst ofrehearsals (an intervention always executed silently and invisibly to the