Zbornik Mednarodnega literarnega srečanja Vilenica 2003 - Ljudmila

Nagrajenec Vilenice 2003
Mirko Kovaè je brez dvoma eden izmed najbolj nadarjenih in izoblikovanih sodobnih
pisateljev s tako imenovanega srbohrvaškega jezikovnega obmoèja nekdanje Jugoslavije.
Rojen je leta 1938 v vasi Petroviæi na meji med Èrno Goro in Hercegovino, kjer je preživel
del otroštva in mladosti, ki sta pogosto prisotna v njegovi literaturi.
Njegova prva knjiga, roman Morišèe, ki je kot mnoga njegova kasnejša dela zaradi
ukvarjanja s tabuiziranimi temami in prikazovanja èlovekovih nagonov, posebno spolnih,
in njegovih nagnjenj k nasilju in zlu razburkala tako literarno kot politièno javnost, je
izšla leta 1962 v Beogradu, kjer je živel vse do leta 1991, ko ga je, zaradi nasprotovanja
Miloševiæu in njegovemu režimu, zapustil in se naselil v Rovinju na Hrvaškem. Leto dni
trajajoèa gonja proti mlademu pisatelju in ostra ideološka in politièna obsodba
njegovega prvenca "zaradi èrne podobe sveta" je potem dolgo vplivala na odnos oblasti
in njenih uslužbencev med literarnimi kritiki do njegovih del. Tarèa tovrstne "kritike" niso
bili le njegovi romani, temveè tudi novele, dramski in esejistièno-publicistièni teksti in
scenariji.
Kovaè je bil ves èas svobodni umetnik, ki je živel za literaturo in od literature. Èeprav je
popolnoma predan besedni umetnosti, ki ne pristaja na vdanost nobeni drugi ideologiji
kot "ideologiji" pripovedovanja oziroma pisanja, s katerim ustvarja poseben, resniènemu
svetu vzporeden svet literature, se je nenehno upiral nasilju in zlu - posebno tistima, ki
so ju zakrivila zlorabljanja vsakršne moèi in oblasti. S tovrstno slo po podrejanju in
unièevanju drugega èloveka se je bojeval predvsem tako, da jo je brezkompromisno
prikazoval.
Njegova proza je najpogosteje sestavljena iz fragmentov razbite podobe znanega sveta,
ki jih je z ustvarjalno domišljijo strukturiral v veèplastni novelistièni ali romaneskni
kolaž. V delih in celoti tega palimpsestnega mozaika se zrcalijo in prepletajo življenjski
kaos in absurdna usoda posameznika, enako surovi zgodovina in vsakdanjost,
resniènost in moreèe sanje ljudi, obsojenih na propad in umiranje. Zato se iz njegovih
novel in romanov neredko razširja vonj po trohnobi in smrti. Toda z opisovanjem
trenutkov, ki jih z lepoto in dobroto obèasno obsije predvsem ljubezen, je hkrati slavil
življenje, ki zanj ves èas ostaja èudež in mistièna skrivnost.
Kovaèev prikaz "grde podobe resniènosti", z gosto stkano mrežo jezika, pokaže pravi
obraz èasa, s katerega je strgal lažno pozlaèeno masko, ki je skrivala razpad moralnih,
nacionalnih, verskih, ideološko-politiènih in drugih vrednot. Predvsem ga razkrije
življenjepis oziroma usoda posameznika, ki je v središèu njegove pripovedne pozornosti.
Posameznika, s katerim upravljajo tako notranje kot tudi enako demoniène zunanje sile,
najpogosteje prikazuje veèstransko, s svetle in temne plati, in ne spregleduje niti
njegovih vrlin niti slabosti, ki se najbolj razkrijejo v razmerju do drugega èloveka,
posebno v tistem, ki izvira iz ljubezni ali sovraštva in ga spodbujajo moène, vèasih tudi
divje strasti.
Pripovedno mojstrstvo Mirka Kovaèa je enega izmed svojih vrhov doseglo v romanu
Vrata materinega telesa, ki je izšel leta 1978. V nagovoru bralcu na zaèetku te obsežne
družinske kronike, ki je naslovljena s sintagmo iz Jobove knjige, sam poudarja
"nagnjenje do razpadljivega življenja". Zaradi tega so ga nekateri razglašali za pisatelja
èrnega vala, drugi pa, kljub takšnim in drugaènim predvsem politiènim diskvalifikacijam,
cenili prav ta temni sijaj njegove literature in ga uvršèali med najpomembnejše evropske
pisatelje. O tem nas preprièuje število prevodov njegovih del v druge jezike in mnoge
pomembne nagrade, ki jih je doslej prejel doma in v tujini. Med drugimi nagrado
Tucholskega, ki jo podeljuje švedski PEN center, in Herderjevo, ki je med
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Prize-winner Vilenica 2003
Mirko Kovaè is beyond doubt one of the most talented and most sophisticated writers
from the so-called Serbo-Croat linguistic region of former Yugoslavia. He was born in
1938 in the village of Petroviæi on the border between Montenegro and Herzegovina,
where he spent part of his childhood and adolescence, which are frequent motifs in his
writing.
Like many of Kovaè's later works his first book, the novel Slaughteryard, disturbed the
literary as well as political public because of the author's preoccupation with taboo
topics and depiction of human base instincts, particularly sexual, and his inclination for
violence and evil. The novel was published in 1962 in Belgrade, where Kovaè lived until
1991, when he left because of his disapproval of Miloševiæ's regime, and settled down
in Rovinj in Croatia. A year-long persecution of the young writer and severe ideological
and political accusations of his first book "because of the black depiction of the world"
had a long-lasting effect on the attitude of the authorities and their officials among
literary critics towards Kovaè's writing. The targets of this "criticism" were not only his
novels, but also short stories, plays, essays and scripts.
Kovaè is a free-lance artist, and he has lived for and by literature all of his working life.
Although totally devoted to the art of words and recognising only one ideology - the
"ideology" of narration and writing, which is the instrument for creating a special world
of literature parallel to the real one - he has constantly fought against evil and violence,
particularly that committed by the misused instruments of power and authority. Kovaè
is fighting against the passion for subordination and destruction of fellow human
beings by pitilessly depicting it.
His prose consists mostly of the fragments of the broken image of the known world,
with creative imagination structured into a multi-layer novelistic collage. The parts and
the whole of this palimpsestic mosaic reflect the chaotic life and absurd fate of the
individual, the equally brutal past and present, reality and nightmares of the people
doomed to destruction and death. This is why his novels frequently give off the putrid
stench of decay and death. However, by depicting moments illuminated by beauty and
love, Kovaè has always glorified life, which for him remains a miracle and a mystery.
Kovaè's rendering of "ugly reality" with a thick-woven web of words reveals the true face
of the time, from which he removed the false gilded mask concealing the decline of
moral, national, religious, ideological, political and other values. Kovaè's centre of
attention is the fate, the life-story of an individual, manipulated by equally demonic
internal and external powers. The hero is most frequently depicted many-sidedly, with
his or her dark and bright aspects, virtues and weaknesses, revealed in the relations
with other human beings driven by love or hate and stimulated by powerful, sometimes
even wild passions.
Kovaè's art of narration has reached one of its peaks in the novel Vrata od utrobe (Door
to the Womb), published in 1978. The prologue to the extensive family saga titled by
the phrase from the The Book of Job emphasises the "tendency towards the decaying
life". This is why some proclaimed Kovaè to be the writer of the black wave, while others
valued the dark tinge of his literature despite all kinds of political disqualifications, and
ranked him among the most important European writers. Proof of the latter is seen in
the numerous translations of his books into foreign languages and several important
prizes at home and abroad, including the Tucholsky Prize awarded by the Swedish PEN
Centre and the Herder Prize, which is among the most prominent literary awards in the
German-speaking world. Even after he had left Belgrade Kovaè continued publishing
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