Sasa Stanisic Quotes

• Something as radical as a war can only be understood (if at all) through the collaboration of journalists, academia, artists and, of course, people.

  Sasa Stanisic

  War, Artist, People

  "The Rumpus International Rivers Interview #3: Sasa Stanisic On The Danube". Interview with Michael Zelenko, therumpus.net. January 25, 2010.

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• Never too late to learn a language. And the good literature to come with it.

  Sasa Stanisic

  Literature, Language

  Source: therumpus.net

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• A book is not only written - after it's finished it starts writing you, the writer. You become its notebook, its sheet of paper on which it forces you to think and rethink your original ideas, your topics, your research, actually everything.

  Sasa Stanisic

  Notebook, Writing, Thinking

  "The Rumpus International Rivers Interview #3: Sasa Stanisic On The Danube". Interview with Michael Zelenko, therumpus.net. January 25, 2010.

  6 Copy quote

• By changing the way I experienced things, even just involving different details than in reality, I often felt I was betraying the past and playing an unfair game with the reader where he (of course) would ask himself "Did this really happen?"

  Sasa Stanisic

  Past, Reality, Games

  Source: therumpus.net

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• I also did a great amount of writing while doing research. It gave me the opportunity to meet and talk to people other than family, but also to explore my own memory deeper by comparing it to the memories of others who were in my home town during, for example, the political transition from socialism to a nationalistic "democracy" or during the bombings.

  Sasa Stanisic

  Memories, Writing, Home

  "The Rumpus International Rivers Interview #3: Sasa Stanisic On The Danube". Interview with Michael Zelenko, therumpus.net. January 25, 2010.

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• It just seemed to me so utterly wrong to credit someone's work just for the fact that this someone migrated from one place to another. We all move. We are all leavers and new beginners at some point, and yes, it is a huge leap from war to peace, from one language to another, from Boston, MA to Joplin, MO.

  Sasa Stanisic

  War, Moving, Boston

  "The Rumpus International Rivers Interview #3: Sasa Stanisic On The Danube". Interview with Michael Zelenko, therumpus.net. January 25, 2010.

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• Europe is not becoming more unified - well, yes, on paper - but not as long as the criteria for so many things (import regulations, border control, visa politics...etc.) are still made in an unjust, unreasonable way.

  Sasa Stanisic

  Europe, Long, Borders

  "The Rumpus International Rivers Interview #3: Sasa Stanisic On The Danube". Interview with Michael Zelenko, therumpus.net. January 25, 2010.

  10 Copy quote

• FAQ regarding my book were not about my use of commas or how the images went berserk, but about the political situation in Bosnia, about guilt and shame, about victims and perpetrators, about reasons, arguments and beliefs that led to the conflict in the first place, etc. All of this needed and still needs answering and ongoing discussions, but I mostly felt overwhelmed and unqualified to articulate anything worth more than personal experiences of the siege, of fear and refuge - all the things which I wrote about anyway.

  Sasa Stanisic

  Book, Political, Guilt

  Source: therumpus.net

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• It is a bit more challenging for the simple fact that now the stories I am writing are relying more on my imagination than on facts, more on research than on memory; so it is basically a slower writing process, more reading, more exploring. On the other hand, this approach is a little bit relieving too, since many times while writing [How the Soldieer Repairs the Gramophone] I felt too close and equal to my character.

  Sasa Stanisic

  Memories, Reading, Character

  Source: therumpus.net

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• I just feel much more secure about whatever I write if I stand with one foot in reality - meaning if the stories I write about have a core of "this actually (could have) happened."

  Sasa Stanisic

  Writing, Reality, Feet

  Source: therumpus.net

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• For example, an author whose parents fled a war but he himself was born in the country where they fled to, and that is where he went to school and college before he wrote his first book of poetry in the language of this country - he should be labeled as: "Author whose parents fled a war but he himself was born in the country where they fled to, and that is where he went to school and college before he wrote his first book of poetry in the language of this country."

  Sasa Stanisic

  Country, War, Book

  "The Rumpus International Rivers Interview #3: Sasa Stanisic On The Danube". Interview with Michael Zelenko, therumpus.net. January 25, 2010.

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• Given that the label "immigrant literature" is already established, unavoidable for anyone with a migrant background and used in any given context, I strongly advocate an absurd amount of specification to go along with the label.

  Sasa Stanisic

  Migrants, Labels, Literature

  Source: therumpus.net

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• Dealing with all the questions once the book is out and unchangeable, forces you to permanently give opinions about - in this case - sensible, challenging topics that you are basically only half the expert you would have to be if you wanted to explain yourself in a trustworthy, intelligent and helpful manner.

  Sasa Stanisic

  Book, Intelligent, Giving

  "The Rumpus International Rivers Interview #3: Sasa Stanisic On The Danube". Interview with Michael Zelenko, therumpus.net. January 25, 2010.

  5 Copy quote

• The reason for writing that essay was less a personal agenda than an attempt to explain my unease with the general label of "immigrant literature" after I had read quite a number of reviews (in different countries) involving books written by 'immigrants.'

  Sasa Stanisic

  Country, Book, Writing

  "The Rumpus International Rivers Interview #3: Sasa Stanisic On The Danube". Interview with Michael Zelenko, therumpus.net. January 25, 2010.

  5 Copy quote

• By trying to give an artistic approach through my book I stepped unwillingly into other fields. Like a dentist being asked about a throat ache on a much more relevant scale, I was caught in trying to explain what was unexplainable for me. In the end, trying to explain why it was unexplainable finally led to a huge general insecurity in dealing with the subject at all.

  Sasa Stanisic

  Book, Giving, Insecurity

  "The Rumpus International Rivers Interview #3: Sasa Stanisic On The Danube". Interview with Michael Zelenko, therumpus.net. January 25, 2010.

  5 Copy quote

• Instead of giving it [war] a rest I continued pursuing more research, talking to more people on the subject as if I was to please this aftermath of the book by knowledge that was more historical and psychological than literary and aesthetical.

  Sasa Stanisic

  War, Book, Talking

  Source: therumpus.net

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• It can stand in the way of narration in cases where we want the protagonist to actually go through some kind of catharsis while our own (non-fictional) experiences and stories lead to something banal or completely uninteresting.

  Sasa Stanisic

  Catharsis, Stories, Want

  Source: therumpus.net

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• Writing about a war will always be political writing, no matter what amount of hermetical hide-and-seek or aesthetical operations are involved.

  Sasa Stanisic

  War, Writing, Political

  "The Rumpus International Rivers Interview #3: Sasa Stanisic On The Danube". Interview with Michael Zelenko, therumpus.net. January 25, 2010.

  5 Copy quote

• Regarding fiction, our concern shouldn't be the author's origin (and of course I am forgetting the sales people right here), because that is actually merely a simplified, almost insulting judgment of the book by its cover - or rather by the name and origin of its author - an act of discrimination if we want to say it in a more provoking way, but at the least an act of ignorance and false empathy.

  Sasa Stanisic

  Book, Ignorance, Names

  Source: therumpus.net

  5 Copy quote

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