Aleksandar Hemon, writer, essayist, columnist, screenwriter and professor who has been living in the USA for a long time, is currently staying in Sarajevo, his hometown. We used his visit to the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina to talk about the new book, about the work on the fourth sequel to "Matrix", but we also asked him to comment on the current political situation in the USA and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Namely, this influential writer recently held a Sarajevo promotion of his new book "My Parents: Introduction" in the garden of the BiH Museum of Literature and Theater Arts, and tonight, at the request of numerous fans of Aleksandar Hemon's written word, the promotion was repeated at the Buybook bookstore. It is also interesting that a few days ago it was announced that Hemon will participate as one of the screenwriters in the fourth installment of "The Matrix," a sci-fi adventure, side by side with Lana Wachowski and David Mitchell. "I have already written several screenplays together with Lana Wachowski and David Mitchell. Namely, Lana invited David and me to work together with her on the second season of the Netflix series 'Sense8'. She wanted us to work together on the third season as well, but the series was canceled. The work on 'Matrix' came up quite by accident. Warner Bros., who have the rights to 'Matrix', has been wanting to work on the sequel for a long time. Lilly and her sister are no longer involved in the film; Lana, on the other hand, agreed, but she invited David and me again to work with her. The final version has already gone to the Warner Bros. studio, and they approved the production a few days ago," Aleksandar Hemon tells us at the beginning. "My Parents: An Introduction" is an unfinished narrative about a generation of parents. He tells us that his new book, "My Parents: An Introduction," which he is currently promoting in Sarajevo, came from the records of his conversations with his parents, who, he points out, were very pleasant to him. but he adds that his parents were also glad to talk to him at this level. "I love my parents and appreciate them. Their story is also the life story of their generation, especially those who ended up in the diaspora. Those stories are good and very valuable, even though they are neglected. This is the generation that grew up in Yugoslavia, which built Yugoslavia, and which came out of poverty in that Yugoslavia, which experienced its disintegration and, ultimately, was forced to change the living space, which was traumatic. I learned that how they perceive the world to have logic is worth considering," he pointed out. 
Although the word "introduction" at the end of the title of his new book caused many to think that his new work will have a sequel, he said that the story of his parents and his parents' generation is so big that it cannot be covered in one book, but he emphasized that that doesn't mean he'll be working on a sequel. "My personal experiences are the material or part of the material that serves me to write literature. I consider myself to have an excess of experiences in a certain way, and it is more difficult for me to imagine things that I have not had any contact with. I usually add things to experience, which includes stories of others, i.e., interaction and communication. My personal experiences are just the bricks with which I build a cathedral. I believe that it is impossible to create independent literature that is necessarily written in language 500 years in the past or in the future, to some fictional planet, to talk about non-human beings, but the writer operates with a language in which experiences are written," added this writer and professor. Literature is at the same time both more and less important than politics. Aleksandar Hemon comes from a family where his father is Ukrainian and his mother is Bosnian. Until the beginning of the war, he lived and grew up in BiH, and during the war, he found himself in Chicago, where he remained. He mentioned on several occasions that he has a very complex identity, and in the conversation with us, he repeated that identity is always complex. "One big colorful lie of nationalism is the story that it is a simple category that can be easily organized and that the national identity is the only important one and that the whole life is based on it. In my case, every identity is complicated, but it's not that I have a complicated identity and that someone else does not. However, some people in different countries and cultures have the privilege of pretending to be one and derive some benefits from this. This reduction of identity complexity is the operation of nationalism, racism, and fascism. Racism always reduces someone to one thing that he later rejects as illegitimate. I write in two languages, in a way I live in two countries, and also my friends, acquaintances, and family cannot be reduced to one," explains Hemon. When we asked him how politically engaged literature is today, he told us that all texts are political to some extent, but that they don't have to be political in an explicit way. In other words, he says that a work in which a character or narrator decides who to vote for in the next election is worthless in every way, and he notes that literature is both more and less important than politics. It's less important because it doesn't change life the way politics does, but it's more important because political actors pass away and no one remembers them, while writers stay. "The global strengthening of the right is obvious, but it is not even. The AfD lost in Germany, Marine Le Pen was de facto eliminated as a danger in France, Viktor Orbán took power even though he did not start as a nationalist, and Salvini's government in Italy fell, and who knows what will happen next? In the USA, the fascists have not won, but to be honest, Trump won the election in the USA, not because of the support of the citizens; only Oklahoma City supported him, and New York, Chicago, and San Francisco voted for Hillary. However, it is new that fascists operate outside of politics. In some areas, fascists have already killed people, and it is difficult to predict the outcome of this situation. There are stories of Donald Trump being brought to his knees next year, and it is also possible that Trump loses but refuses to step down, which would cause a constitutional crisis similar to this one in Dayton, BiH," says Hemon. He tells us that today the Republican Party in the USA is much more radical than before. He points out that the leadership of this party at one point seriously considered making it more diverse, but that option was completely defeated, and that currently its main ideology is white nationalism. He also underlined that, on the ideological level, the current situation in the USA is similar to the pre-war situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. "There was a time when it was thought that national parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina were an expression of national aspirations and that some compromise could be born there. SDS was always radical, but less so at the beginning, in multi-party elections. There were nationalists in SDS worthy of contempt, but at that time they did not advocate genocide. It is the same with HDZ. However, when the party is defined as fascist, it is a path of no return, and It is very interesting that in Bosnia and Herzegovina, nationalist politicians are advocating the status quo and that they do not even give false hope to the voters, knowing that nationalism is a dead end that always leads to conflict and/or collapse," categorical and Aleksandar Hemon. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Electric Guitar, and Liverpool Everyone who knows Alexander Hamon better knows that three things are very important in his life: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, electric guitar, and Liverpool football club. He explained to us why they are so important to him. "Even though I don't play anymore, I still like to listen to Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, and I follow Liverpool matches regularly. My bandmates are abroad, and the drummer died in the war. The band we played in existed for a year, but I have to emphasize that it was nothing serious. In any case, I think that young people should have some creative experimental group where they can try and break in to see what they can do and what they can't. I hit the ceiling of my creativity after a year, and the other guitarist from our band lives in California, where he still plays. As soon as I found a girl after a year of playing the guitar, I said to myself, 'This is pretty good, success.' ", Aleksandar Hemon tells us with a laugh. Although, as he tells us, he "wasted" his time in his youth playing in a band, he says that he would do it all again if he had the opportunity to be born again. However, he points out that this time he would learn music theory; he says that he would master reading music, playing it, and everything that goes with it." My true love for Liverpool started there in the '70s and lasted until Heysel. When I arrived in the USA and started following English football more closely, i.e., when I missed football and not at the level of the game but at the level of mythology, then the nostalgic images of us watching the leagues and cups came back to me. That's when I decided again, Liverpool became my real passion, and since then I've been to the Liverpool stadium on several occasions. I grew up in the building across Anfield Street, so her yard was lit up from the ground. She was talking about it, and I was daydreaming. Soon after she started getting me tickets and I got a signed Kenny Dalglish shirt, she also wrote several columns for Matchday Magazine, which is sold on the day of the match," concluded Aleksandar Hemon. (https://www.klix.ba/)
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