Vidosav Stevanovic
Encyclopedia
Vidosav Stevanović born June 27, 1942 in Cvetojevac
village near Kragujevac
, Serbia
is a Serbia
n writer.
ist, story-writer
, poet
, playwright
and publicist
. He has signed over thirty literary pieces of art, a political biography of Slobodan Milošević
, numerous essays and various pieces of writing. Stevanović used to write for European newspapers such as Le Monde
, Liberation
, El Pais and Expressen
.
After having completed primary and secondary education in Kragujevac
he went to study in Belgrade
in 1961. Initially he studied dental medicine and then literature. But he left quickly the academic world in order to dedicate himself completely to the real literature. I did not consider it as a profession but as a vocation, a skill that replaces religion, politics and real life.
After the publication of his first collection of stories (The scum of death, Prosveta, 1969), Vidosav Stevanović becomes, in the esthetical, intellectual and stylistic sense one of the most important and prominent creatures on the Yugoslav literary scene. At the same time, he wins, in the eyes of the Belgrade gossipers, a reputation of the enfant terrible and the politicians started to persecute the insolent dark-waver. Given that the young writer destroyed the myth about the carefree life in the country of self-management, he was brought in the court trial which lasted six years. He was neither released nor condemned: the trial simply expired. During those six years the young writer lived in isolation from the public
.
Vidosav Stevanović is the founder of a new literary movement known as fantastic realism. He was persecuted, denied but at the same time appreciated, adored and occasionally rewarded.
In the early eighties Vidosav ruled the famous Belgrade
publishing houses BIGZ and Prosveta. In the later eighties and in the beginning of nighttimes, when the communism closing stages were replaced by the nationalism, unlike the majority of Serbian writers, Vidosav Stevanović refused to join Milosevic and his program. Gathering a small group of supporters, he founded Independent Yugoslav Writers (1989), Liberal Forum (1990) and The Belgrade Circle (1991).
He was soon forced to leave Serbia
, to run away via Greece
and find exile in France
. While being a constant target of Belgrade propaganda in Serbia under Milošević’s regime – his works nowhere to be found, either one looked for them in bookstores, libraries or school curricula – he was becoming a popular writer in France. His books have been reprinted and translated, and the fact that he was given a knighthood medal in the order of arts and literature (Chevalier de L'ordre des Arts et des Lettres
) accounts for the popularity of his literary work.
Vidosav interrupted his exile in France for a few months to work as a director of the Radio-Television Kragujevac, conquered during the massive demonstrations in Serbian cities in 1996 and 1997.
In 2004 he left France and moved to Sarajevo
, where he worked as culture adviser in the town governorship.
Since 2007. Vidosav Stevanović has been living and working in his house in the village of Botunje
, near Kragujevac . The City of Kragujevac and Koraci Press are publishing his Complete Works in 15 volumes, thus ending the tradition of censorship that was in force for over twenty years.
Last year. together with a group of his readers and students of his creative writing school, he opened the Club Vidosav, an association of citizens which aim is to promote various media activities (organizing literary evenings, exhibitions, concerts, book promotions, creative writing school and musical school).
. His second book is a collection of stories The scum of death, 1969. Two year later a young writer brings out his first novel Nišći and two years later his second novel Konstantin Gorča. This was followed by two collection of stories Suburban dragons (1978) and The Cesarean section, 1984, which was awarded by The Andrić Prize. Perhaps the Stevanović s most popular work is the novel The Will for which he got in 1987 the famous Serbian Nin Literary Award.
After this he published the following novels:
Vidosav Stevanović also has three unpublished works:: the novels What a bird says About sad places, deep at night and a satire Stradia and comments.
In addition, two books of his journal (1988–1993) The second diary of solitude are expected to come out soon.
He also published the following plays:
He wrote two screenplays : My Lazar! and The Balkan Island, with Lordan Zafranović.
He is the author of fifteen radio dramas, numerous literary critics, essays and newspaper articles.
The fiftieth anniversary of his literary work will be accompanied by a book dedicated to his life and writings and an international conference taking place at the University of Kragujevac
in march 2011.
He stopped working on the second book of his novel Nišči. The gloomy atmosphere of that period is transposed in his novel Konstantin Gorča which ended the Kragujevac s cycle. Vidosav turned to his family life, started working on his Belgrade stories and collecting material for his novel The Will. The first book of Belgrade stories appeared in 1978, attracted lots of attention and provoked a few moderate attacks but could not enter any award – selection: their writer had been blacklisted. Upset by the premature death of his wife Gordana, Vidosav did not pay attention to all that. Fighting with depression he worked industriously as editor, gaining respect in his second job. During that period the assaults on him on him lessened. He became a member of the management of the Writers Society and play an important role in the process of liberation of the poet G. Đogo. At the beginning of 1982. He accepted the position of the chief editor and then of the director in BIGZ, a publishing house which was about to collapse. Vidosav changed its programs, activated marketing, reanimated pocketbooks, introduced modern commerce conformed to the principle of the new Japanese business philosophy: do not produce for storehouses! In the next five years BIGZ turned into the most active and most successful publishing house in Serbia and among the best in Yugoslavia
. It publishes books and authors that other don t or dare not publish. It becomes the main publisher of dissidents.
This time of great expectation and free minds, that gave vigor and colors to the cultural life of Belgrade
and Serbia, was interrupted by a mere political putsch: Slobodan Milošević
reached the power first in the Communist party and then in the whole Serbia. The main topic and mission of the new government and its associates was the solving of the national question – that is how new Serbian politician called it, inspired by the ideas of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
and the Serbian Orthodox Church
.
Just before this events Vidosav Stevanović moved to the publishing house Prosveta, trying to save this ineffective company. But Mirjana Marković
, Milošević s spouse, wanted Prosveta for herself. Refusing to work under the supervision of Mirjana s execturos, Vidosav Stevanović submitted his resignation. All of a sudden, at the end of 1988, Vidosav, who has to sustain his family of five, is jobless and expelled. All the cultural institutions, artistic societies and colleagues keep silent. The persecution starts and will end thee years later by Stevanović s exile.
which publishes the second edition of his collected works. The two years he spends in the multiethnic city of Sarajevo are relatively peaceful. With a few like-minded people, Stevanović establishes literary association Independent Yugoslav writers. One of the constitutive documents proposes foundation of the professional trade union Svjetlost, which exists up to date, while the other requires that the political parties which are set up at the time reveal to the public archives of secret services: this initiative is supported only by reformists from Serbia; however, these archives remain undisclosed even at the beginning of the 21st century. Stevanović founds Liberal Forum in Belgrade, together with a couple of independent intellectuals. Forum aims to act as an intermediary between various political options, but with no success. At the first free elections held towards the end of the 1990s, he supports and participates in campaigns of the presidential candidate Ivan Djuric. Except the primary liberal and pro-western orientation, we had in our political platform three important aims for Serbia: peace with itself, peace with its neighbors, peace with the world. Still, we couldn’t do much in the middle of the hellish media blitz of Milosevic and the other frenzied nationalists who were everywhere preparing for the war and rapine . (Vidosav Stevanović: Notes ). In Decembar of the same year he resigns from the position of the advisor in Svjetlost and withdraws to his home village near Kragujevac.
In the first year of democracy Vidosav Stevanović and the other people holding the same attitudes as his, can’t find publishers for their works. It happened in the same year that I lost my job and couldn’t have my works published, so I was unable to support my family. Nobody noticed this in the city which was caught up in war fever and nationalistic fanaticism. We had to leave. After a physical assault in the street, he flees to Greece with his wife and sons , and going through the experiences described in his writing, starts trilogy The Snow and the Dogs. His first book The Snow in Athens is published in Greek, and later on, in Serbian.
With the help from PEN and his French friends he manages to get to France for the promotion of his book and , following the invitation from the publisher, decides to stay in France which is traditionally known as the country offering asylum. Stevanović gives a number of interviews, appears in many TV programs , participates in public debates and visits French towns : in all places he severely criticizes the regime of Slobodan Milosevic. He joins Ivan Djuric, also an asylum seeker, and his Movement of Democratic Forces; they try to convince the European public and politicians of how necessary it is to stop the war in former Yugoslavia. They also try to help Sarajevo, the city being bombed at the time. After the Dayton Agreement, the two of them justifiably criticise the delayed halt of war, division of Bosnia and nationalism of the politicians leading the three constitutive nations.
Towards the end of 1995. Stevanović stays in his house near Kragujevac. Appalled by the atmosphere in which war criminals are celebrated while peacemakers attacked, he leaves the place again, this time heading for , first Prague in order to write the screenplay for The Balkan Island, and then Paris. He publicly opposes the positions held by western governments claiming that Milosevic is a guarantee of stability in the Balkans. Over a span of just two years he loses two of his close friends: Dragisa Pavlovic dies in Belgrade, Ivan Djuric in Paris. For the sake of his sons he returns to Serbia during the big demonstrations in 1996-97, joins the opposition in Kragujevac and soon they win the favour of the city radio-television, the first free one in Serbia. Six months later, Stevanović resigns from the position of the director and leaves for Paris. In his diary from that period Thieves of Their Own Freedom, published in French , there is a sentence saying: The opposition is the final line of defense against the regime of Slobodan Milosevic. His wife and younger son join him, and the three of them demand and are granted political asylum as a clear case of the triple breach of the Geneva Convention.
Stevanović prepares and finishes political biography Milosevic, an epitaph which is published before he is ousted from power. New democratic powers in Serbia do not invite him to come back. The next years are the most prolific in the turbulent life of this cursed writer.
He writes with great intensity, publishes in various languages, feels well in the French cultural surrounding, wins two court cases against a big publisher along with being given a highly respectable French award and French citizenship. But, being homesick, especially concerning his mother tongue, he ever frequently visits former Yugoslav republics.
Stevanović accepts the position of the culture advisor in the Sarajevo city council and spends the next three years in his favorite city. Having retired, he returns to his village near Kragujevac, travels less and less, avoids the public and does not participate in the literary life of Serbia.
With the help from his friends and the publishing house Koraci, he spends the major part of 2008 trying to break the wall of silence and media censorship surrounding his name and works. He sends a direct letter to the president of the Republic of Serbia Boris Tadić
, and gets no reply.
Cvetojevac
Cvetojevac is a village in the municipality of Aerodrom, Serbia. According to the 2002 census, the village has a population of 719 people....
village near Kragujevac
Kragujevac
Kragujevac is the fourth largest city in Serbia, the main city of the Šumadija region and the administrative centre of Šumadija District. It is situated on the banks of the Lepenica River...
, Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
is a Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
n writer.
Biography
Vidosav Stevanović, novelNovel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
ist, story-writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
and publicist
Publicist
A publicist is a person whose job is to generate and manage publicity for a public figure, especially a celebrity, a business, or for a work such as a book, film or album...
. He has signed over thirty literary pieces of art, a political biography of Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević was President of Serbia and Yugoslavia. He served as the President of Socialist Republic of Serbia and Republic of Serbia from 1989 until 1997 in three terms and as President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000...
, numerous essays and various pieces of writing. Stevanović used to write for European newspapers such as Le Monde
Le Monde
Le Monde is a French daily evening newspaper owned by La Vie-Le Monde Group and edited in Paris. It is one of two French newspapers of record, and has generally been well respected since its first edition under founder Hubert Beuve-Méry on 19 December 1944...
, Liberation
Libération
Libération is a French daily newspaper founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968. Originally a leftist newspaper, it has undergone a number of shifts during the 1980s and 1990s...
, El Pais and Expressen
Expressen
Expressen is one of two nationwide evening tabloid newspapers in Sweden, the other being Aftonbladet. Expressen was founded in 1944; its symbol is a wasp and slogans "it stings" or "Expressen to your rescue", always on the reader's side....
.
After having completed primary and secondary education in Kragujevac
Kragujevac
Kragujevac is the fourth largest city in Serbia, the main city of the Šumadija region and the administrative centre of Šumadija District. It is situated on the banks of the Lepenica River...
he went to study in Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
in 1961. Initially he studied dental medicine and then literature. But he left quickly the academic world in order to dedicate himself completely to the real literature. I did not consider it as a profession but as a vocation, a skill that replaces religion, politics and real life.
After the publication of his first collection of stories (The scum of death, Prosveta, 1969), Vidosav Stevanović becomes, in the esthetical, intellectual and stylistic sense one of the most important and prominent creatures on the Yugoslav literary scene. At the same time, he wins, in the eyes of the Belgrade gossipers, a reputation of the enfant terrible and the politicians started to persecute the insolent dark-waver. Given that the young writer destroyed the myth about the carefree life in the country of self-management, he was brought in the court trial which lasted six years. He was neither released nor condemned: the trial simply expired. During those six years the young writer lived in isolation from the public
Publishing
Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...
.
Vidosav Stevanović is the founder of a new literary movement known as fantastic realism. He was persecuted, denied but at the same time appreciated, adored and occasionally rewarded.
In the early eighties Vidosav ruled the famous Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
publishing houses BIGZ and Prosveta. In the later eighties and in the beginning of nighttimes, when the communism closing stages were replaced by the nationalism, unlike the majority of Serbian writers, Vidosav Stevanović refused to join Milosevic and his program. Gathering a small group of supporters, he founded Independent Yugoslav Writers (1989), Liberal Forum (1990) and The Belgrade Circle (1991).
He was soon forced to leave Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
, to run away via Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
and find exile in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. While being a constant target of Belgrade propaganda in Serbia under Milošević’s regime – his works nowhere to be found, either one looked for them in bookstores, libraries or school curricula – he was becoming a popular writer in France. His books have been reprinted and translated, and the fact that he was given a knighthood medal in the order of arts and literature (Chevalier de L'ordre des Arts et des Lettres
Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
The Ordre des Arts et des Lettres is an Order of France, established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture, and confirmed as part of the Ordre national du Mérite by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963...
) accounts for the popularity of his literary work.
Vidosav interrupted his exile in France for a few months to work as a director of the Radio-Television Kragujevac, conquered during the massive demonstrations in Serbian cities in 1996 and 1997.
In 2004 he left France and moved to Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
, where he worked as culture adviser in the town governorship.
Since 2007. Vidosav Stevanović has been living and working in his house in the village of Botunje
Botunje
Botunje is a village in Pivara, Kragujevac municipality in the Šumadija District of central Serbia. It is located north-east of the city.-External links:*...
, near Kragujevac . The City of Kragujevac and Koraci Press are publishing his Complete Works in 15 volumes, thus ending the tradition of censorship that was in force for over twenty years.
Last year. together with a group of his readers and students of his creative writing school, he opened the Club Vidosav, an association of citizens which aim is to promote various media activities (organizing literary evenings, exhibitions, concerts, book promotions, creative writing school and musical school).
Work
Vidosav Stevanović published his first and unique collection of poems, intitled Trublje in 1967, in BelgradeBelgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
. His second book is a collection of stories The scum of death, 1969. Two year later a young writer brings out his first novel Nišći and two years later his second novel Konstantin Gorča. This was followed by two collection of stories Suburban dragons (1978) and The Cesarean section, 1984, which was awarded by The Andrić Prize. Perhaps the Stevanović s most popular work is the novel The Will for which he got in 1987 the famous Serbian Nin Literary Award.
After this he published the following novels:
- The circle of love 1988),
- Snow in Athens, 1992,
- The Balkan Island, 1993,
- Christ and Dogs, 1994,
- The same thing, 1995,
- Abel and Lise 2001,
- Milosevic: The People's Tyrant, 2001,
- Sybil, 2004,
- Demons, 2004,
- The stranger who is staying with you 2008,
- Totally consternated by that night monster 2008, Iskra, 2008.
Vidosav Stevanović also has three unpublished works:: the novels What a bird says About sad places, deep at night and a satire Stradia and comments.
In addition, two books of his journal (1988–1993) The second diary of solitude are expected to come out soon.
He also published the following plays:
- My Lazar!, Belgrade, 1981,
- Tonight is a night,
- Yugoslav drama theater, Beograd, 1983,
- The last visitor, Scena, 1983,
- Our mother s suit-case, National theatre, Belgrade, 1984,
- Far away, over there, Belgrade, 1985,
- Vuk Stefanovič Karadžić, Belgrade, 1987, Jovana of the underground, Paris, 1993, Ethnic purification, Nota Bene, Paris, 1994,
- Three sister, Paris-Botunje, 1996–2001,
- People is waiting for the earthquake, Botunje-Paris, 1996–2001,
- A permanent rehearse, Paris, 1988–2001,
- Volter, Volter-Ferne, 1999,
- Good night and thanks for your attention, Sarajevo, 2004,
- Medea, the fortune-teller. Paris-Sarajevo, 2006),
- Irena Dubrovna, Botunje, 2009.
He wrote two screenplays : My Lazar! and The Balkan Island, with Lordan Zafranović.
He is the author of fifteen radio dramas, numerous literary critics, essays and newspaper articles.
The fiftieth anniversary of his literary work will be accompanied by a book dedicated to his life and writings and an international conference taking place at the University of Kragujevac
University of Kragujevac
The University of Kragujevac is a university located in Kragujevac, Serbia. It was founded in 1976 and is organized in 11 Faculties.-History:...
in march 2011.
Collected works
- Collected works in five volumes, Narodna knjiga, Srpska književna zadruga, Beograd, 1984,
- Collected works in five volumes, Svjetlost, Sarajevo, (on the occasion of the 30th writing anniversary)1989,
- The first series of collected works 2007:
- The stranger who is staying with you,
- Totally consternated by that night monster,
- Snow and dogs,
- The same thing,
- Abel and Lisa,
- Iskra,
- People is waiting for the earthquake and other plays.
- The second series of collected works, Koraci, Kragujevac 2008:
- The scum of death,
- Nišči,
- Konstantin Gorča,
- Suburban dragons, Caesarean section,
- The Will.
- The third series of collected works, Koraci Kragujevac 2009:
- Sybil,
- Demons - the other three books will appear soon
Public and cultural engagement
A dazzling success of his first book of stories made Vidosav Stevanović ideologically suspicious, and afterwards, politically condemned and accused. Moreover, a public ban was put on him. As one of the editors in the publishing house Prosveta he earned a small salary but he could not sign the books he edited. He felt many times the pangs of hatred of his ill-tempered Belgrade cultural environment.He stopped working on the second book of his novel Nišči. The gloomy atmosphere of that period is transposed in his novel Konstantin Gorča which ended the Kragujevac s cycle. Vidosav turned to his family life, started working on his Belgrade stories and collecting material for his novel The Will. The first book of Belgrade stories appeared in 1978, attracted lots of attention and provoked a few moderate attacks but could not enter any award – selection: their writer had been blacklisted. Upset by the premature death of his wife Gordana, Vidosav did not pay attention to all that. Fighting with depression he worked industriously as editor, gaining respect in his second job. During that period the assaults on him on him lessened. He became a member of the management of the Writers Society and play an important role in the process of liberation of the poet G. Đogo. At the beginning of 1982. He accepted the position of the chief editor and then of the director in BIGZ, a publishing house which was about to collapse. Vidosav changed its programs, activated marketing, reanimated pocketbooks, introduced modern commerce conformed to the principle of the new Japanese business philosophy: do not produce for storehouses! In the next five years BIGZ turned into the most active and most successful publishing house in Serbia and among the best in Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
. It publishes books and authors that other don t or dare not publish. It becomes the main publisher of dissidents.
This time of great expectation and free minds, that gave vigor and colors to the cultural life of Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
and Serbia, was interrupted by a mere political putsch: Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević was President of Serbia and Yugoslavia. He served as the President of Socialist Republic of Serbia and Republic of Serbia from 1989 until 1997 in three terms and as President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000...
reached the power first in the Communist party and then in the whole Serbia. The main topic and mission of the new government and its associates was the solving of the national question – that is how new Serbian politician called it, inspired by the ideas of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts is the most prominent academic institution in Serbia today...
and the Serbian Orthodox Church
Serbian Orthodox Church
The Serbian Orthodox Church is one of the autocephalous Orthodox Christian churches, ranking sixth in order of seniority after Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Russia...
.
Just before this events Vidosav Stevanović moved to the publishing house Prosveta, trying to save this ineffective company. But Mirjana Marković
Mirjana Markovic
Mirjana "Mira" Marković is the leader of the Yugoslav Left political party and the widow and childhood friend of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milošević.-Personal life:...
, Milošević s spouse, wanted Prosveta for herself. Refusing to work under the supervision of Mirjana s execturos, Vidosav Stevanović submitted his resignation. All of a sudden, at the end of 1988, Vidosav, who has to sustain his family of five, is jobless and expelled. All the cultural institutions, artistic societies and colleagues keep silent. The persecution starts and will end thee years later by Stevanović s exile.
Persecution and exile
At the beginning of 1989. Vidosav Stevanović accepts the position of an advisor in the publishing house Svjetlost, SarajevoSarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
which publishes the second edition of his collected works. The two years he spends in the multiethnic city of Sarajevo are relatively peaceful. With a few like-minded people, Stevanović establishes literary association Independent Yugoslav writers. One of the constitutive documents proposes foundation of the professional trade union Svjetlost, which exists up to date, while the other requires that the political parties which are set up at the time reveal to the public archives of secret services: this initiative is supported only by reformists from Serbia; however, these archives remain undisclosed even at the beginning of the 21st century. Stevanović founds Liberal Forum in Belgrade, together with a couple of independent intellectuals. Forum aims to act as an intermediary between various political options, but with no success. At the first free elections held towards the end of the 1990s, he supports and participates in campaigns of the presidential candidate Ivan Djuric. Except the primary liberal and pro-western orientation, we had in our political platform three important aims for Serbia: peace with itself, peace with its neighbors, peace with the world. Still, we couldn’t do much in the middle of the hellish media blitz of Milosevic and the other frenzied nationalists who were everywhere preparing for the war and rapine . (Vidosav Stevanović: Notes ). In Decembar of the same year he resigns from the position of the advisor in Svjetlost and withdraws to his home village near Kragujevac.
In the first year of democracy Vidosav Stevanović and the other people holding the same attitudes as his, can’t find publishers for their works. It happened in the same year that I lost my job and couldn’t have my works published, so I was unable to support my family. Nobody noticed this in the city which was caught up in war fever and nationalistic fanaticism. We had to leave. After a physical assault in the street, he flees to Greece with his wife and sons , and going through the experiences described in his writing, starts trilogy The Snow and the Dogs. His first book The Snow in Athens is published in Greek, and later on, in Serbian.
With the help from PEN and his French friends he manages to get to France for the promotion of his book and , following the invitation from the publisher, decides to stay in France which is traditionally known as the country offering asylum. Stevanović gives a number of interviews, appears in many TV programs , participates in public debates and visits French towns : in all places he severely criticizes the regime of Slobodan Milosevic. He joins Ivan Djuric, also an asylum seeker, and his Movement of Democratic Forces; they try to convince the European public and politicians of how necessary it is to stop the war in former Yugoslavia. They also try to help Sarajevo, the city being bombed at the time. After the Dayton Agreement, the two of them justifiably criticise the delayed halt of war, division of Bosnia and nationalism of the politicians leading the three constitutive nations.
Towards the end of 1995. Stevanović stays in his house near Kragujevac. Appalled by the atmosphere in which war criminals are celebrated while peacemakers attacked, he leaves the place again, this time heading for , first Prague in order to write the screenplay for The Balkan Island, and then Paris. He publicly opposes the positions held by western governments claiming that Milosevic is a guarantee of stability in the Balkans. Over a span of just two years he loses two of his close friends: Dragisa Pavlovic dies in Belgrade, Ivan Djuric in Paris. For the sake of his sons he returns to Serbia during the big demonstrations in 1996-97, joins the opposition in Kragujevac and soon they win the favour of the city radio-television, the first free one in Serbia. Six months later, Stevanović resigns from the position of the director and leaves for Paris. In his diary from that period Thieves of Their Own Freedom, published in French , there is a sentence saying: The opposition is the final line of defense against the regime of Slobodan Milosevic. His wife and younger son join him, and the three of them demand and are granted political asylum as a clear case of the triple breach of the Geneva Convention.
Stevanović prepares and finishes political biography Milosevic, an epitaph which is published before he is ousted from power. New democratic powers in Serbia do not invite him to come back. The next years are the most prolific in the turbulent life of this cursed writer.
He writes with great intensity, publishes in various languages, feels well in the French cultural surrounding, wins two court cases against a big publisher along with being given a highly respectable French award and French citizenship. But, being homesick, especially concerning his mother tongue, he ever frequently visits former Yugoslav republics.
Stevanović accepts the position of the culture advisor in the Sarajevo city council and spends the next three years in his favorite city. Having retired, he returns to his village near Kragujevac, travels less and less, avoids the public and does not participate in the literary life of Serbia.
With the help from his friends and the publishing house Koraci, he spends the major part of 2008 trying to break the wall of silence and media censorship surrounding his name and works. He sends a direct letter to the president of the Republic of Serbia Boris Tadić
Boris Tadic
Boris Tadić is the President of Serbia and leader of the Democratic Party. He was elected to a five-year term on 27 June 2004, and was sworn into office on 11 July. He was re-elected for a de facto second five-year term on 3 February 2008 and was sworn in on 15 February...
, and gets no reply.
Awards & affiliations
- Isidora Sekulić, 1968.
- Mladost, 1970.
- Milan Rakić, 1971.
- Ivo AndrićIvo AndricIvan "Ivo" Andrić was a Yugoslav novelist, short story writer, and the 1961 winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. His writings dealt mainly with life in his native Bosnia under the Ottoman Empire...
Award (Yugoslavian, later Serbian literary award), 1985, for his short stories - NIN PrizeNIN PrizeThe NIN Prize is a Serbian literary award established in 1954 by NIN magazine and is an given annually for the best newly published novel in Serbian literature . The award is presented every year in January by a jury of writers...
(Yugoslavian, later Serbian literary award), 1986, for his novel Testament - Civis Media PrizeCIVIS media prizeWith the Civis Europe's media prize for integration, programme performances in radio and television will be honoured which are particularly suitable for the promotion of peaceful coexistence within the European immigration community....
, 1995. - Ordre des Arts et des LettresOrdre des Arts et des LettresThe Ordre des Arts et des Lettres is an Order of France, established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture, and confirmed as part of the Ordre national du Mérite by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963...
, 1999, top literary honor from French government, for his body of work - Member of the Liberal Forum, 1989-’00, a liberal political forum advocating democratic reforms in Yugoslavia
- Co-founder, Belgrade Circle (Beogradski Krug), 1989-‘00, a community of activist intellectuals opposed to Milosevic, war and isolation
See also
- NIN PrizeNIN PrizeThe NIN Prize is a Serbian literary award established in 1954 by NIN magazine and is an given annually for the best newly published novel in Serbian literature . The award is presented every year in January by a jury of writers...
- Ivo AndricIvo AndricIvan "Ivo" Andrić was a Yugoslav novelist, short story writer, and the 1961 winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. His writings dealt mainly with life in his native Bosnia under the Ottoman Empire...
- Ordre des Arts et des LettresOrdre des Arts et des LettresThe Ordre des Arts et des Lettres is an Order of France, established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture, and confirmed as part of the Ordre national du Mérite by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963...
- Civis media prizeCIVIS media prizeWith the Civis Europe's media prize for integration, programme performances in radio and television will be honoured which are particularly suitable for the promotion of peaceful coexistence within the European immigration community....
- KragujevacKragujevacKragujevac is the fourth largest city in Serbia, the main city of the Šumadija region and the administrative centre of Šumadija District. It is situated on the banks of the Lepenica River...
- SerbiaSerbiaSerbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...