Lidija Lagrini

LITERARTA - NEW BLOGGER AT THE WEB SKY

The name of the blog is very likable, short and simple, just like Ivana’s style is.

Blog contains author’s short stories, poems, literary essays, books and films reviews.

In her stories, she often writes about family life, making sketches of contemporary reality. When she glances the reality, we have the impression that she is standing at a certain distance, maybe watching from bird’s perspective. Lyrical subject has to be distant from the daily life to become aware of its importance.

Excerpt from a story “Family Diary”:

“Moj suprug me voli onoliko koliko mu dozvoljavam. Čudno je to zvati ga suprugom, to nije njegov identitet.

Kako sam provela dan? Ponekad to pitanje i ne postavim, samo žurno skliznem u nesvesno.

Marta me je pitala od čega je napravljeno sunce.

Zbunjena je kada se ljudi ponašaju loše. A ljudi su prosto takvi. To mora znati.”

“My husband loves me as much as I let him to. Sounds strange calling him a husband; that’s not his identity.

How did I spend my day? Sometimes I don’t even ask that question, I just slip into the unconsciousness.  

Marta asked me from what is the sun made of.

She gets confused when people behave wrongly. But people are just like that. She needs to be aware of it.”

Some stories are written in a different discourse and with a various themes. ‘Did Petar Petrovic Die at the Stranger’s Day?’ is a grotesque story which reminds us to Chekhov and Harms. From similar thematic circle is a story ‘Vladimir’. Characters in these stories are paranoid, under the strong pressure. There are some meta-poetic miniatures, such is “Dialog/monolog – This post has been removed because it was boring.”

There is an excellent choice of writers in Ivana’s literary essays: Borislav Stankovic, Momcilo Nastasijevic, Eugene Ionesco, Ingmar Bergman… High-quality essay is ‘Native Melody in Momcilo Nastasijevic’s Opus’, about interesting and difficult topic. Ivana is young, but her language is the language of experienced critic, who is wise enough not to use hermetic but simple expressions.

“U vreme između dva rata, kada umetnost po prvi put postaje zaista internacionalna, preplavljena mnoštvom "izama", Nastasijević zahteva od umetnika da se okrene rodnom tlu i u njemu, tj. u sebi, nađe izvore, jer jedino kroz sebe možemo prodreti u svet, u nadnacionalno.”

“Between two wars, for the first time, world’s art becomes very international, with many literary directions, and many ‘isms’. But, at that very moment, Nastasijevic demands from artists to turn to their native soil and to find literary sources in it. ‘We can break through into the word, into the above-nationalistic, only through our selves.’- he says.”

Ivana-Literarta is also a film lover, so she writes reviews about Von Trier’s ‘Antichrist’, the whole opus of Hiroshi Teshigahara (his most famous movie is ‘The Woman in the Dunes’), Ingmar Bergman’s films and books, etc.

Most of the poems are unnamed. Ivana-Literarta shows her talent when she let her irrationality out. That’s why poetry is good genre for her. Wonderful examples are poems ‘Pack Me into the Box’, ‘Stranger’ and ‘Allis in a Grey Balloon’.

Excerpt from the first one:

“Today, oh mum, you forgot to pack me

And I cried the whole day

Crumpled, alone, confused

With no limits.”

In Literarta’s poems, motifs of marriage and motherhood enter with sensitivity, but without pathetic and with freshness and realism. There is not a lot of emotional expressiveness and passion.

Reader’s impression is that author has a lot to say, but somehow she puts boundaries between herself and – passion, irrationality, craziness…

Her poems, stories and essays are better when she allows herself to play with themes and forms, when she comes near to absurd and grotesque. We are curious and looking forward to the following Literarta’s posts, especially the poems.