| Rifet Bahtijaragić | |
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| Topic Started: Feb 11 2006, 10:56 PM (780 Views) | |
| Alpinac | Feb 11 2006, 10:56 PM Post #1 |
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BAHTIJARAGIĆ, RIFET (1946. Bosanski Petrovac – živi u Kanadi)  BIOGRAFIJA: Rođen u Bosanskom Petrovcu gdje je završio osnovnu i srednju školu. Filozofski fakultet završio u Sarajevu. Jedno vrijeme radio kao profesor u Bihaću, te kao novinar. Piše poeziju i prozu. Sarađivao u brojnim listovima i časopisima. Za književno djelo nagrađivan. Živi u Kanadi. BIBLIOGRAFIJA: Skice za cikluse, poezija, Sarajevo, 1972. Urija, Poezija, Bosanski Petrovac, 1982. Krv u očima, roman, Kanada, 1996. O BAHTIJARAGIĆU SU PISALI: Rizo Džafić, Zilhad Ključanin, Šimo Ešić |
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| Alpinac | Feb 11 2006, 11:09 PM Post #2 |
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Rifet Bahtijaragić danas živi u Kanadi i dao je interview na jednoj kanadskoj web-stranici. Interview je na engleskom i ovdje ga prenosim sa tog web-sita. The Politics of Identity A Bosnian-born writer speaks of leaving the past behind, the disappearance of mainstream culture and finding new inspiration in “ancient Arcadia.” Rifet Bahtijaragic, in conversation with Fernanda Viveiros Rifet Bahtijaragic is the author of two books of poetry, Skice za cikluse (Skits for Cycles) and Urija (Barren Soil), and two novels, Krv u ocima (Blood in the Eyes) and Bosanski boomerang (Bosnian Boomerang). His most recent book of poetry, Eyes to the Cold Sky, was written in Canada and published in both Bosnian and English. Rifet Bahtijaragic was born in 1946 in Bosanski Petrovac, Bosnia. He studied South Slavic Literature at the University of Sarajevo, and was a professor for the Economical School Centre before becoming the director of the Bank of Sarajevo in Paris, France. In 1980, Rifet returned to Bosnia and for a decade he worked as a specialist in development and international financing, eventually setting up his own company, New Trade, in order to further his career in domestic and international activities. The Bosnian War of 1992 altered the course of his life and challenged him to make a difference through his words. In response to the growing chaos in his country, Rifet created the Citizens’ Forum, and wrote an appeal to Bosnians to refuse to follow their leaders into civil war. Instead of the expected support from his countrymen, Rifet was exiled to Germany, and eventually emigrated to Canada in 1994. Rifet’s novel Krv u ocima (Blood in the Eyes) received the 1999 Best Novel prize in Bosnia. His most recent book, Eyes to the Cold Sky, published in both English and Bosnian, garnered glowing reviews from Harvard academics and literary reviewers. In this interview for WordWorks, Rifet shared his thoughts on multiculturalism and writing, from the perspective of a proud “New Canadian.” How did you first find your voice as a writer? I evolved as a writer in my native country, Bosnia. My writing activities were intensified during the terrible events of the 1990s. Unfortunately, the Balkan conflicts caused horrendous suffering to my people and the destruction of everything that I liked: real patriotism, the doctrine of unity and brotherhood, and the peaceful co-existence of nations and ethnic cultures which had blossomed for over half a century before the outbreak of war. Ultimately, this chaos inspired my novels. I was driven to write stories that would ease the suffering of people everywhere on Earth. I left Darwin’s theory of spontaneous evolution and immersed myself into Cain and Abel’s syndrome of civilization. My books—those written and published before my arrival in Canada—were written from my ethnic perspective, but even in Bosnia I was a pacifist and attempted to write for the world audience. The books I’ve written in Canada are closer to the emotions and customs of this society and I avoid writing of Bosnia with nostalgia. How did living in Canada, distanced from your native language and your first reading public, affect you as a writer? It’s easier for architects and engineers, for example, to move from one region of the world to another than it is for a writer, because a writer’s tools for building his thoughts and images are found in words. Therefore, the words themselves gain added importance. In words and their correlations, writers are bringing wider meaning to their text, and without fluency in the English language, writing a literary work in English is still just a dream for me. I can’t write about spider webs, about a flame, about a snowflake, or war if those words don’t include broader meanings—very often different in a new language—filled with symbols, comparisons and metaphors. However, in order to create a literary work, I don’t need to be inspired by the past because in the Canadian environment, every wandering spirit can find a variety of themes in which to express their imagination. After witnessing the violence in the Balkans, is your philosophy on life changed by your new experiences in Canada? Is this reflected in your writing now? My life’s philosophy is not particularism. Language is a problem when the writer is moving from one part of the world to another, but for me, Vancouver and the rest of this beautiful country is a paradise for immigrant writers and other artists. If I could have several lifetimes I would not have enough time to put on paper what I am discovering in this society, in this new landscape. Even before coming to Canada, I travelled so many times across our planet in my poetry; to me, each city I lived in was “Cousteau’s Ark” and each one led me to a new life. I am convinced that in my Canadian writings you can find my roots, but human beings are not plants and roots are not for humans what they are for plants. My silent nostalgia isn’t a barrier to seeing Canada in a positive and romanticized light. You see Canada in a romanticized light? Yes, for me, Canada is ancient Arcadia. This life, and its freedom and civil relationships between people, remind me of what I experienced in my former homeland before its destruction. There, multiple ethnicities and religions were supported in the spirit of freedom and brotherhood, but during the “evil period” they were overthrown by the power of destructive nationalism. The importance and beauty of multiculturalism can be long-lasting if they don’t include politics and division amongst a country’s people. Has living in Canada given you a renewed interest in writing? Artists have eyes to see further, deeper, and unlike others, an ability to hear the unusual nuances of life’s melodies, and to feel emotions which lead to imagination and the creation of new relations among both things and beings. A new environment always means a challenge and it never can have a negative influence. My arrival in Canada led me to a new life, enabled me to enjoy very rich experiences and to discover the works of numerous Canadian writers. For example, I was fascinated by the artistic instinct of our prominent poet George Bowering, when he describes objects and images in eternal movement. My silent nostalgia isn’t a barrier to seeing my new country in a positive and romanticized light. Should minority or immigrant writers adapt to mainstream culture? I think the time of “mainstream culture” in our civilization is nearing the end. This is unstoppable. Modern communications are making the world seem smaller and are opening doors to even the most conservative cultures, which in turn are stimulated in supporting their interactions with others. Telephone, email, the broadcasting industry, internet access, tourism—all are opening doors to cultures around the world. Cultures are blending in powerful ways. For instance, very soon we won’t be able to speak about French or Chinese culture. We will be speaking only about a French or Chinese variant of a universal “civilization culture.” In Canada, Britain, Australia and the United States, ethnic groups and races have inter-married and blended to the point where soon it will be ridiculous to comment on the “mainstream culture” in those countries. Canada, once ethnically and culturally divided, has grown into a compact mixture of ethnicity and cultures and is becoming a modern model of world culture. This is a time of fundamental changes in world cultures. Influences are coming so quickly and it’s not possible, or even necessary, to build safety fences around our cultural identities. Today, “ethnic writers” can fill the mainstream, which is coming from Hollywood, from designers, musicians... Maybe from writers too! To what degree do you self-identify as an ethnic or immigrant writer? I don’t identify myself as being of Bosnian or Yugoslavian ethnicity because I have decided to make Canada my homeland. For me, some of the characteristics of my ethnicity belong to my past life, from which I am trying to keep just what is valuable. I am trying to implant myself into Canadian culture and customs, by contributing what I have to offer to my new country. Because I came to Canada in my “golden years,” I brought with me different educational viewpoints, customs, morals, language, even a different way of thinking. This inheritance is easily accepted if I can find a way of merging what worked in my former life with what will work for me in the existing Canadian culture. In coming to Canada, I made a personal commitment to leave behind the negative influences of my upbringing in order to adapt to the culture of my new country. You must be pleased with the reviews of your new book, Eyes to the Cold Sky, published recently in both Bosnian and English. Will it be difficult to attract a readership for your translated writing here in Canada? I don’t think it will be a problem for me to attract a new reading public because my books are more in the soul of multiculturalism than in traditionalism. My major problem as a new Canadian is the need for translators, because I am unable to afford the professional literary translators capable of adequately translating my thoughts and literary expressions from Bosnian into English. What do you hope to accomplish as a writer in the years ahead? I expect, here in my new country, increased support on my road to publication in English. I know that I am included in the Canadian multicultural programs and I am one part of the cultural pluralism of this nation. If I am a little different from the mainstream, we should together accommodate those differences and incorporate my writer’s identity in our cultural organism. I believe the roots of my literary senses reach deep into my native Bosnian soil and my fruits—my words—have a tempting taste of closeness and familiarity, but in my writing I want to reach readers of all ethnicities.  Fate Is not fate proud and mute, Tortured by difficulty, wrinkled by the cliff, Like rubber stretched by hand, When returning from dangerous flight?! Is not fate a foreign power, And pride a hopeless fortune, Stick and arrow, Bullet and space station, For some, may the Creators of fate forgive me, Soiled undergarments, From point of purchase to the trash heap?! Isn’t fate triumph and death In the eyes of the victor and the eyes of the victim?! That same fate in which the flame develops And the flame is extinguished... Is not fate for the spiteful one Who turns off the light in another man’s harbour, The same as that for the one infected by hate Whose toasts sneak back to a suspicious past?! Is fate ashamed of the crystal glasses raised to the sky, And the abyss in the eyes of the unfortunate, And the newly born orphans Under the decks of the victor’s ships?! Isn’t fate like a comet Whose dusty trail Butters us across time and space And pulls a butterfly from a cocooning larvae Before our very eyes?! — Rifet Bahtijaragic |
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