Thank You for Not Reading by Dubravka Ugresic

Author:Dubravka Ugresic [Ugresic, Dubravka]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Open Letter

5. Because of mountaineering

It makes perfect sense that the Croats, as representatives of a small nation, are obsessed with size. When they talk, they like to use phrases such as “a spiritual colossus,” “a moral rock,” “a giant in spirit,” “a Croatian titan.” If any writer has a problem with low self-confidence, Croatia will take care of it.

The Croats often elevate their literature to the heights and use mountaineering metaphors to do so. But since they are, after all, a maritime people, the Croats often confuse their metaphors. This is how S. L., a prominent Croatian intellectual, professor of Croatian literature at Croatian and foreign universities, speaks of Croatian literature: “Just as a mother, almost invariably, prefers her backward child, fragile, weak, sickly, and placed in special classes, so too I, often, not always, but often, favor Croatian literature over the Himalayas to which I am directed by duty, intellect, and spirit. Croatian literature has its peaks, its lighthouses. Perhaps they are second-rate in comparison to the Himalayas, but they exist as a longing for the Himalayas. The coldness, indifference, and haughtiness that stream naturally from the Himalayas must be borne calmly: if we persevere in our silent dialogue with the European heights, the time will come when the new lighthouses hear—of their own accord, almost without any external dialogue or propaganda—our Word, which will enrich them as well.” Professor S. L. infects his students with a love of Croatian literature, carried along by one single idea: “Literature as such—as a phenomenon of the human spirit—has a vertical axis and, if you really want to establish a dialogue with it, it is accessed only by giants, only by Himalayas. Dostoyevsky was and remains one of my Himalayas,” the professor adds.

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