Promotion and the author's book signing are essential and proven successful elements of book promotion. In the minds of readers in Serbia, they are linked to the Book Fair. However, this year, publishers who refused to participate in the Fair whose conditions do not suit them, are organizing meetings of writers and readers in some other areas. Judging by the response, readers have easily adapted to this change.
On Saturday, October 16, it was packed in the "Delphi" bookstore, where Srdjan Dragojevic signed copies of the novel "Red", one of the latest editions "Lagoons".
We hope for the best.
"We thought that eight days before the elections, it might be inappropriate to make a promotion, when everyone is tense. It is better to make a promotion in freedom," said Dragojević, who was greeted with applause, as reported by SEEcult.
As he stated, "it is logical that many people say: 'What kind of book now that fate is being decided'. I hope that there is no chance that it will go wrong, so that later they say: 'What kind of book now that we live in a dictatorship'. We hope for the best, that citizens will vote according to their conscience, for a better tomorrow".
His novel "Crveni" in the genre of science fiction and satire deals with the possibility of the existence of a multiverse, so in the year 2026, along with today's Serbia and the former Yugoslavia, the SFRY, which did not disintegrate, exists in parallel.
Billions of dimensions
The theme of Dragojević's book is based, he said, on the fact that "around us there are billions of different dimensions depending on the decisions made by societies, but also by us as individuals".
"The book is fun. It also refers to the present time. I also described my littleness, who in that dimension of Yugoslavia in 2026 is not a director, but lives much happier and more peacefully. Many famous figures from our public life are also heroes or are mentioned - some fared better, some worse. For example, Pianista is a famous state artist, while some today's celebrated poets appear in that dimension as obscure poets who perform in the Hotel 'Yugoslavia' as stand-ups tragedians".
The main character Jugoslav Dzhanko, according to the author, looks a bit like the dirty inspector Harry, but in socialism. He is a young agent of the State Security which controls everything in the country, whose president for life is Ante Marković, at the age of 101. Jugoslav is essentially a positive character because he begins to question the foundations of the society he defends.
Yugoslavia is a successful country.
Dragojević said that he is not nostalgic for Yugoslavia and that in the novel the Yugoslavia that survived is a visibly successful, but also a totalitarian state, imprisoned in an eternal socialist utopia.
"Some things that we have witnessed in recent weeks, namely the rampage of neo-Ustasha in Croatia, neo-Ochetniks or neo-Nazis in Serbia, Mladic's funeral and all that, are resolved in the book by going to the Forested Island for any nationalism. There is not much mercy there, although it is not as bad as Goli Otok, it is more like glamping tourism," the author revealed.
"Dragojević's novel is an intervention in the past in order to correct the future. This work is a call to action. To action so that the future does not look like the present," historian Dubravka Stojanović writes about "Crveni" in a review.
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