day 279 – without fear of change, marija knezevic

without fear of change, marija knezevic pp11 (2009)

best european fiction 2012

london: dalkey archive 2011

(edited by aleksander hemon)

(translated from serbian by will firth)

 

 

 

‘This is my story, remember – me writing about myself and how I see things.’

 

 

‘I don’t care if anyone likes it or not. I feel I’ve been obliging to others all my life. Now I want to do something for myself. Or at least be obliging to myself.’

 

 

‘I don’t know where to go from here.’

 

 

‘And perhaps I don’t know exactly how I feel. I’m hardly one of those professional writers who can churn out a column a day.’

 

 

‘but I don’t want to talk about things I’m not sure about.’

 

 

‘When I settle down, and I guess that will happen one day, I’ll write a whole book about it like normal people do.’

 

 

 

 

‘I’m afraid of being happy with such simple things.’