Novačić Dejan: SFRJ za ponavljače - Turistički vodić

Dejan Novačić: SFRJ for repeat offenders - Tourist guide

In front of you is an original, extremely witty and somewhat wistful book that deals with the myths and legends of the former non-aligned SFRJ - the land of brotherly peoples and nationalities, which are no longer so. Myths about Tito and self-governance, through landings and summer vacations on the Adriatic, to the old Cockta, Pitralon and raspberry juice in the cafe are twisted here. A little sad like Kekec, romantic like two palm trees on the island of happiness, and above all a lot of that spirit that once upon a time in the hilly Balkans adorned a land that no longer exists.

For some, a reminder, for others a textbook, this book, conceived as a tourist guide through the past, will entertain you while driving through the SFRY, which still exists only in books.

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The book "SFRJ for repeaters" is a lexicon, a personal catalog of things, concepts, customs, phenomena and names related to the former Yugoslavia. From today's perspective, this everyday life may seem fantastic, however, even the present of the small countries that emerged from the Yugoslav egg does not offer much hope in this sense. That is why the title of Novačić's book is ambiguous. "SFRJ for repeat offenders" is a reminder of the forgotten past, but, who knows - because you never know with countries, as with people - it may also be a solid handbook for the future.

The past of Yugoslavian everyday life in Novačić's lexicon is slightly falsified, colored with irony, humor, tenderness or even joyful exaggeration, which is completely legal: the author is a self-proclaimed curator in his private museum. However, if those who brought down Yugoslavia - self-proclaimed heroes, murderers, false historians, crazy presidents and newly minted politicians - if, therefore, they all easily demolished what other people had built for years, then decent people like Novačić have no choice but to pick up the remains in a pile and pay a cheerful tribute to their former life. In this sense, Novačić's literary commemorative endeavor deserves full respect.

Reading Novačić's lexicon provides multiple pleasures. For a long time, Yugoslavs lived imprisoned in ideological platitudes that they simply perpetuated. And the land was the most beautiful in the world, and the Adriatic Sea the bluest, and the fish the freshest, and the people the most cordial, and self-management the most efficient, and brotherhood and unity the strongest, and the army the bravest.

Novačić's book deconstructs these and other platitudes in a cheerful way. This is precisely why it achieves a double effect. Reading Novačić's book, we come to terms with our own past and at the same time feel a relieving release from it.

And one more thing, the value of Novačić's book lies in the fact that it is one of the first to open a space for revaluation of the past, not the "official" one - historians will deal with it - but the past of our personal lives. (Dubravka Ugrešić)