IGMS Issue 8 (29 page)

SCHWEITZER
: Let's talk for a minute about "mosaic novels." An interesting term. I've been reacquainting myself with your work by reading
Four Stories Till the End
, which is a mosaic novel, though even the episodes have episodes within them. Many of your books fall into this pattern, a cycle of 4 or 5 stories, each complete in itself, but forming a larger structure which (as in the case of "The Astronomer" as it appears in the context of
Time Gifts
) can change the way we read a story. I see that there IS a difference here between a "mosaic novel" and a collection of linked stories, and I will even candidly admit that I was overtly imitating your structures when I wrote
Living with the Dead
. (You may have seen three parts of that in
Interzone
right before David Pringle left.) Is this a distinctly European form? Why write these, rather than more seamless novels, or just collections of short stories?

ZIVKOVIC
:
Living with the Dead
is one of the best things I've read of yours. Not because you also used the "mosaic-novel" structure, but because it is a genuine piece of the noble art of "fantastika". You were not imitating, you were legitimately relying on what's a part of our common literary heritage. The term "mosaic-novel" isn't a European invention. It was coined by the great Ursula Le Guin. I found it in an interview of hers and it seemed to suit perfectly the narrative form I was mostly using. I am not aware of any other European authors writing "mosaic-novels". There isn't a simple answer why I prefer this form over others. I don't decide consciously about it. Once a new work is ready to be delivered from the place where all my fiction originates, my subconscious, it takes whatever form is the most convenient. It so happens that my subconscious seems to be rather fond of "mosaic-novels"...

SCHWEITZER
: You mention that the market in Serbia is so very small that 500 is the normal print-run and 3000 is a bestseller. But I wonder: is there still a flourishing community of Serbian authors of "fantastika" that English readers have never seen? I have to confess that the only two Serbians I can name, much less have read, are you and Milorad Pavic. Which other such writers among your countrymen do you think deserve wider attention?

ZIVKOVIC
: A number of contemporary Serbian writers have received international recognition recently. David Albahari, for example. Goran Petrovic also, although he isn't yet translated into English. You see, this is one of the main problems an author writing in a small language is faced with. As I once remarked, if you write in Serbian, you don't write at all. If you, however, wish your books to be available in English translation and thus accessible to the whole world, not only the English-speaking regions, you have to invest a small fortune. Many good Serbian writers can't afford such a luxury and therefore remain "invisible" internationally. I am currently working with our Ministry of Culture to arrange a program that would provide assistance to the most prominent Serbian writers to get their books translated into English.

SCHWEITZER
: To back up just a little bit, your comment on Lovecraft is intriguing, that the depth of his literary roots show when he is filtered through more than one language. I assume you're talking about reading him in translation. The only language other than English that Lovecraft was at all fluent in was Latin. But are you saying that by reading him in translation you see an affinity to other parts of world literature that might not be so evident to a native English-speaker reading him in English?

ZIVKOVIC
: What I meant regarding the depths of Lovecraft's literary roots was that they become more evident if one takes into account what has been written in other languages. Although Lovecraft probably wasn't aware of any prose works that weren't available in English (or Latin) translation, there are still similarities between them and his opus. There is no mystery in it. This is how the art of literature has worked ever since it was invented. Various authors, who are in no way aware of each other, make similar literary "discoveries." If I were much younger, I might be tempted to write my doctoral thesis about certain parallels between Lovecraft's "fantastika" and the Serbian folklore "fantastika" (in which, by the way, the term "vampire" was originally coined). But, alas, at this advanced age, I am just a humble writer and a creative-writing university professor. Fortunately, young scholars are coming and, who knows, some day, such a thesis could be written. We can only hope it won't remain imprisoned forever in the small Serbian language...

SCHWEITZER
: How does being multilingual affect your understanding of a piece of literature?

ZIVKOVIC
: It's a privilege to be able to read in as many languages as possible. The more languages one speaks, the more windows are open for one...

SCHWEITZER
: What are you working on these days? What is coming up soon? I am sure your faithful readers -- and you DO have an English language audience -- will want to know.

ZIVKOVIC
: I am deeply honored to have my faithful English language audience. This is something a writer of the art of "fantastika" originating outside the English-speaking world can only dream of. I do hope my readers in the US and UK enjoy my new novel,
Escher's Loops
. It is about to be finished and the English translation is already well under way. In the meantime, before
Escher's Loops
is published, as many as six other books of mine will appear this year in English translation:
The Last Book, The Writer, The Reader,
and
The Bridge
in the UK (PS Publishing) and
Impossible Encounters
(Aio Publishing) in the US.

SCHWEITZER
: Thank you, Zoran Zivkovic.