[3]Original published as Američki fikcionar and published in English as Have a Nice Day: From the Balkan War to the American Dream, translated by Celia Hawkesworth (London: Jonathan Cape, 1994; New York: Viking Penguin, 1995).
[4]The essay was published in my book The Culture of Lies (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson; Pennsylvania: Penn State Press, 1998) the first edition of which appeared in Dutch as De cultuur van leugens (Amsterdam: Nijgh & Van Ditmar, 1995), which was followed a year later by the first Croatian edition, Kultura laži (Zagreb: Arkzin, 1996).
[5]At the time, the Croatian media had individually attacked the journalists Vesna Kesić and Jelena Lovrić, the journalist and writer Slavenka Drakulić, and a professor of philosophy, Rada Iveković. Apparently wanting to conserve energy, they soon came up with a joint indictment for the “five Croatian witches” (me being the fifth). The media haranguing was aimed at convincing the Croatian public that a dangerous feminist-terrorist “cell” was at work, and of the need for unity in the struggle against the internal enemy. We, however, weren’t a “cell.” Each of us coped with our professional lives and the consequences of our intellectual and moral choices as best we could. In this essay I mention my colleagues only sparingly for two reasons: first and foremost, each of them has the right to tell her own story; secondly, mentioning them would force me to use the pronoun “we,” and doing so would mean (inadvertently) contesting their version of events in advance, not to mention dissipating the individual character of these events. This was itself the very aim of the media haranguing — to reduce us all to “broads persecuting Croatia.” My reluctance to use the pronoun “we” in no way signals any lack of solidarity with my colleagues, nor, as is my deep conviction, their lack of solidarity with me.
[6]One of the most amusing accusations of the “investigative team” was that we “witches” had generally chosen Serbs as our partners. As they write: “It would be immoral to mention had it not now become clear that what we are dealing with is systematic political choice, not chance coincidence in matters of the heart.” (“Hrvatske feministice siluju Hrvatsku” [Croatian Feminists Rape Croatia], Globus, December 11, 1992).
[7]Dubravka Ugrešić, “Laku noć hrvatski pisci” [Goodnight Croatian Writers], Nedjeljna Dalmacija, February 25, 1992.
[8]The November 2003 edition of the Prosvjeta journal entitled “Bibliocide-Culturcide” was dedicated to the bibliocide that occurred in Croatia in 1991 and 1992, the title a clear allusion to Heinich Heine’s famous line, “Das war ein Vorspiel nur, dort wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen.” (That was only a prelude; where they burn books, they ultimately burn people.)
[9]Dubravka Ugrešić, “Pravo na kolektivnu cenzuru” [The Right to Collective Censorship], Nedjeljna Dalmacija, June 16, 1993.
[10]Celebrating the 500th episode of the program Pola ure kulture [Half an Hour of Culture], in the April 2, 2010 issue of the Globus weekly (that magazine again!) an interview appeared with the show’s host, Branka Kamenski. In the interview, Kamenski speaks of Hloverka Novak-Srzić as her best friend and ersatz sister. Novak-Srzić helped Kamenski move from journalist on the Večernji list daily to host and editor of what is arguably the only cultural program on Croatian television. Kamenski also recalls her intimate relationship with the Croatian writer Antun oljan (who was one of the most important people in my life; I feel privileged to have known him, says Kamenski). She also recalls her most important interviews, such as that with the aforementioned Vinko Nikolić, in the course of which she came face to face not only with Croatian history. . but also with Nikolić’s piercing and incredibly blue eyes.
Branka Kamenski’s “sister” Hloverka Novak-Srzić was the first to denounce me (“Denunciranje domovine” [Denouncing the Homeland], Glasnik, November 9, 1992). Two days after Novak-Srzić declared me a “denouncer of the homeland,” and a person of suspicious ethnic background (which meant a Serbian background), an article appeared by the previously-mentioned Croatian bard, Antun oljan (“Dubravka Cvek u raljama rata” [Dubravka Cvek in the Jaws of War], Večernji list, November 11, 1992). (Translator’s Note: the title of oljan’s article is a play on the title of Ugrešić’s highly-popular short novel tefica Cvek u raljama života [“ tefica Cvek in the Jaws of Life,” 1981], the metafictional chronicle of a klutzy and lovelorn typist’s quest to find Mr. Right — and thereby “get a life.” The implications of oljan’s wordplay would have been crystal clear to his Croatian audience.) oljan, let’s not forget, was one of the most important people in Branka Kamenski’s life. Three weeks later, two articles by Kamenski herself appeared (“Lobistice promukla glas” [Lobbyists Lost their Voice], and “Ćorak u Riju” [Dud Bullet in Rio], Večernji list, December 5, 1992), which officially opened the media pack hunt on the five Croatian witches. In her Globus interview, Kamenski also talks about tennis, her favorite hobby, and there is a photo featuring her favorite tennis partners. In addition to her ersatz sister, a man called Slaven Letica is in the line-up. Slaven Letica really has done it all, from being a personal advisor to Franjo Tuđman to himself standing for President as an independent. Among other things, he was also the initiator and author of the Globus fabrication, Globus, December 11, 1992), published only six days after Kamenski’s early efforts.
Today, eighteen years later, Branka Kamenski claims that: On television we were the first to address the question of dissidents in the new Croatian state, Dubravka Ugrešić, Slavenka Drakulić, Slobodan najder. It was 1996. . Referring to me she adds: I particularly admire Dubravka Ugrešić, I think she’s one of our best writers and it’s regrettable that during the war she wrote essays like “Clean Croatian Air.” I like books that I remember, and hers are such.
The contents of this footnote could create the false impression that the “Witches of Rio” affair was simply the concoction of a homespun “cottage industry,” of a group of people who enjoyed media power at the time (which they still enjoy today). The witch-hunt, however, was but one example of a strategy designed to silently and systematically cleanse Croatia of all manner of “internal enemies.” The refusal to acknowledge this fact is still in force today.
[11]“Dubravka Ugrešić nije otjerana” [Dubravka Ugrešić Wasn’t Chased Away], Globus, January 22, 2010.
4. THE COOKIE THAT MADE A FRENCHMAN FAMOUS