Chronicles
16
Writing Time in the Meantime
by Laszlo Vegel
"There are times when I think I will never leave the
Dunavska Street, that I'll stay here forever, hanging around like some
long forgotten guard who has himself forgotten the password and what was
it he was supposed to guard. His watch is meaningless, but he still
remains in his post, as he has nowhere else to go; his succumbs not to
general local-patriotism, for his meaningless commitment makes him ever
more convinced that everything is in vain. I watch and wait. Actually, I
see myself as a stranger like many others keeping their meaningless
watch," writer Laszlo Vegel wrote in the prologue to his collection of
essays. Having opted to publish literary pieces - a policy
uncharacteristic for this edition - the Helsinki Committee bore in mind
that the writings - author's diary - collected in "Writing Time in the
Meantime" were crucially determined by the fact that they refer to the
period 2000-2003. In other words, to the last days of Milosevic's
crumbling regime and the dawn of a new one. The author's mild irony
suggests his skepticism about the "new era" of betrayed hopes. |