One of the most renowned contemporary Serbian authors and a recipient of almost all major Serbian literary awards Academician Milan Danojlic held a literary soiree at the Embassy of Serbia in Bern, on 6 November.

In her opening remarks Ambassador Snezana Jankovic expressed the hope that the conversation with Academician Danojlic, who had lived in France since 1984, would be a beautiful and valuable experience for the Serbs in Switzerland, having in mind that they, like Academician Danojlic, faced the challenges of a life divided between the home country and the country of residence.

Mr. Danojlic read his poetry and discussed the works of the greatest writers and poets, which he had translated to the Serbian language (Charles Baudelaire, Joseph Brodsky, Emil Cioran, William Butler Yeats, among others). Mr. Danojlic shared with the audience his thoughts about literary writing, translation and the effort to preserve one's identity, culture, tradition and the Serbian language in an era of globalization.



Underlining the importance of protecting and cultivating the Serbian language and script, Academician Danojlic said that an unconscious abandonment of the Cyrillic script, either due to recklessness or ignorance, equalled the loss of an important feature of national culture and identity.

"Despite the massive invasion of the English language, we must not give up on and distance ourselves from the Cyrillic script and our national uniqueness, for this is an effort that we can make to contribute to global culture and our distinctive features, which in no way implies the abandonment of the Latin alphabet", he stressed, adding that the main guardian of the Serbian language – the village people – was wavering, while the urban jargon quickly absorbed foreign loanwords. Furthermore, he went on to elaborate on the consequences of rural depopulation, a subject featured in his works, deeming it not only a Serbian, but also a global problem.



The author concluded his two-hour meeting with the Serbian diaspora by saying that in the modern-day era of globalization, the "big countries" facing huge challenges themselves can hardly be expected to address the problems of "small countries" and that, in a global atmosphere of saturation and self-centeredness, international friendships should not be waited for but made and maintained, without letting the history and the suffering of the Serbian people fall into oblivion.

The author emphasized that the Serbs fundamentally had a healthy relationship with culture, and that as a nation they had always been curious about and open-minded to other cultures.