Predrag Matvejevic
represents a synthesis of Europe, including Eastern Europe, which recognizes
itself in the Mediterranean Sea and in its history.His life, his family, his
literary and political works, from the time of the Iron Curtain, contain almost
all ethnicities, religions, nationalities and cultures that, even nowadays,
some people want to turn into reasons for conflict.
The opera of
Matvejevic, above all the incomparable “Mediterranean Breviary”, recalls
those supposed differences, showing, as perhaps no one has done more than he
and Fernand Braudel, how much they form a part of ourselves; transforming them
into reasons for coexistence, enrichment and sharing.
Above, we owe to
Matvejevic a high poetic conception, which blends his ability to listen with
the one to understand the places and people of his Europe. He developed
the theory of Geopoetry, meaning that localities, containing the
history and the sentiments of so many people, emanate poetry. Poets do not
create it, but simply, with their higher sensitivity, they capture it and
"translate" it with their verses, making it available for others.
The immense modesty
of Predrag conceals his value. Modesty is a great virtue; brought to excess, is
a crime, because it damages what is right.
The events of these
days, and more generally of the latest years, make more relevant than ever the
warning of Predrag Matvejević "huge are the inconsistencies
that have marked the different civilizations and cultures of the Mediterranean,
the old and the new ones" and goes on " We betray it by approaching
it from different points of Eurocentric view ". Therefore, we would say it
is mandatory nowadays, for those who care about a peaceful and fruitful
coexistence in the Mediterranean, the reinterpretation of “Mediteranski
Brevijar”, published in 1987 in Serbian-Croatian and translated into
French, Italian and many other languages. In the eighties, the eyes of Europe
were all concentrated towards East, neglecting the South, which to Europe means
the Mediterranean area, "the sea of affinity". A community, in
order not to become conflictual, must listen to and accept the coexistence of
historical, political and religious diversities. This is the first lesson of “Mediterranean.
A new breviary”. But even a decade later, at the Collège de France, despite
the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Balkan tragedies and the Albanian exodus,
Matvejević reiterates unheard that “the image that the Mediterranean gives us
is hardly reassuring," inviting everyone to know and develop " common
or feasible ways of being and living, in spite of divisions and
conflicts."
Is one book enough to qualify it’s Author for the
Nobel prize? We think so.
If not, then
we can consider the literary and cultural value, as well as that of the anthropological
and historical content of his other
books, for example “Letters of the other Europe”; “World Ex:
confessions”; “Between asylum and exile”. These titles demonstrate
the aspiration of Matvejević to foster the understanding of cultural diversity.
Lastly “Our Bread”, can be read as a manifesto of the importance of the most essential and
sacred food of mankind.
We submit therefore
the nomination for the Nobel Prize for Literature, of Predrag Matvejević, born
in Mostar and raised on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea that he has so masterfully
narrated, with great attention and sensitivity to the peoples and cultures of
the countries that bathe in it’s waters.