On Sunday, August 11th at 9PM, this year festival’s literary programme is to continue at the “Poets’ Square”, with the guest for the evening being Nataša Nelević. She will present to the audience her first novel entitled A Little Novel About Mud.
Nataša Nelević is a theater critic and researcher, feminist theoretician and writer. She graduated from the Faculty of Philology, University of Belgrade- Department of Comparative Literature and Literary Theory. She is the author and editor of multiple books in the area of theater research, gender studies and women history amongst which are: The Roles of Women in the Area of Performance Arts in the Western Balkans (1990-2010), Women and Heritage: towards the establishment of the Women’s Museum of Montenegro, Women in Montenegro from 1972 to 1914:a historical reader, What Does “AFŽ” Signify to Us: contributions to new readings of women’s socialist heritage history, A Historical Guideline Through the Emancipation of Women in Montenegro. She is the author of the play Eggs, the book of theatrical texts “Drama”, the children’s book They Call Me Čupa and the novel entitled A Little Novel About Mud. Hers is also the feature-length documentary “Šagargur”.
Nataša Nelević is a theater critic from Podgorica. She graduated from the Faculty of Philology, University of Belgrade-Department of Comparative Literature and Literary Theory. Theater critics and text related to theater studies, she wrote for: the daily newspapers “Pobjeda”,“Dan” and “Glas Crnogoraca”, the weekly magazine “Polis” as well as for the magazines tackling the areas of theatre and culture “Gest”, “MMart”, and “Ludus”. She has also collaborated with the magazines for culture “Ovdje” and “Stvaranje”. Nelević received the following awards: the Award for Theater Critics “Sterijina nagrada”-Sterijino pozorje, Novi Sad (2003) and the Award for the Best Contemporary Dramatic Text awarded by the Montenegrin National Theatre (2010). She is one of the founding members of the “Peripetija” magazine dealing with theater critics and the collaborator of the portal “Normalizuj”.
When reviewing the book, Slavica Perović stated the following: “A Small Novel About Mud can be perceived as having multiple layers. It primarily addresses the conflict between the individual and the collective in a time when the collective was the only accepted notion. That having been said, it is then read as two distinctly separate personal stories. These stories were ,however, presented as existing on the brinks of society undergoing a tremendous change whilst at the same time being changed by the stories as well. The society was relying on the ideological principles stemming from war morals and freedom fighting while the state and its mode of government were dependent on the hard-working people and youth. The country’s road infrastructure is being built at a fast pace, but what is really lacking are the social and philosophical aspects. From the fog and acidic mud, the relationship between one’s life and the greater existence starts to form. With this notion, the characters contribute to the conclusions gathered, but from different perspectives. That is where Nataša Nelević puts on display the whole of her gift as a formed and experienced writer, in all its beauty. She points out to the fact that learning the truths about one’s own life through leg wounds is tantamount to coming face to face with writers and philosophers’ existential truths. These notions complement one another. The light at the end of the tunnel is still far away.”
The moderator for the evening is Božena Jelušić, a professor, writer and columnist.
The “Theatre City” Press-Office