Imer Topanica (1983) is a writer from Kosovo. He graduated from University of Prishtina for Albanian Literature. He has worked as an editor in various newspapers. Currenty he is working as an editor-in-chief of the portal FolDrejt. Imer Topanica is author of several books
of fiction and poetry. Some of his writings have been translated in English, Turkish, and Serbian.
- First of all, I should say that art for me is not just a decoration. Of course, a piece of art is not like the economic packet sent by the government as an aid for communities that have been damaged by a flood. The effects of a piece of art are of a different kind, and they are deeper, more essential and more enduring. After all, the damages that are caused by the “floods of ignorance” have the same deepness and the same complexity. Besides, as we have a notion of Truth, of Beauty, of Good and of Justice, we are eager to unfold them to the others as well. Therefore, our social and cultural surrounding contributes in a way in our creative work, both by inspiring us and by making us expose its darker sides through literature, in which it can see itself like in a mirror, so that it could improve itself.When I think more steadily on this issue, I arrive at the conclusion that my earlier models come from my family background. My grandfather, for instance, was recognized as a wise man. The way he spoke and he told things had something of literary magic. Dozens of times I have been witnessing that the guests were transfixed by what he was saying. On the other hand, I have heard from my grandmother old fairy tales, like the one with the snake boy, with the Little Red Riding Hood, with the Snow White, etc… And it seems that I shall follow those patterns all my life in my writing, without being able to appropriate the style in their best versions. Maybe the writers are a kind of people who are different from their social surrounding, but they cannot be detached from it.
- The most important for me as a writer is that they know me, that they read me… No, this answer is far from complete. It is a complex relationship, in as much as our activity “affects” many realms of life. The physicians, the journalists, the mechanicians, the economists, the sociologists, etc., differently from writers, have clear goals, and moreover it is clear for them what will be the effects of their activities, if the would succeed. For the writers, such things are not clear. Certainly, the primary function of a literary work is entertainment. However, the effects of a good piece of literature are more than that. I believe that Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment unfolds admirably the human hell in a synthetic version much better than dozens of psychological studies. Therefore, when one is asked such a question, the answer cannot be really short.As Fernando Pessoa put it, I would be surely glad if my book would become someone’s companion throughout the trip that is called life – a companion of the travelling human being.
- My experience of residency in Istanbul was a wonderful one, a memorable one. For me it was the first time I was participating in such a program. As I have written in a reportage, Istanbul is a story bounds your attention all the time. With wonderful landscapes, with a relentless liveliness expect when the weather is very hot, with the richness of its history, with the beautiful colours of its nature, with people and animals that are living in peace and harmony, something that you can encounter everywhere. With its tumult, a beautiful tumult… Thus, Istanbul is an inexhaustible inspiration for everyone who breaths in its imperial atmosphere.
- I write perhaps because I have the conviction that I don’t know and don’t want to do any other job. I have the conviction that each of us, being unique, is bound to assume one role or another within this play. We don’t read or don’t write poetry becuase it is attractive. We read and we write poetry because we are part of the human race, and the human race has feelings and passions. Medicine, economics, engineering, etc., are fields and jobs that help us in our lives, but poetry, romance, love, are the reasons why we leave, says John Keating (Robin Williams), in the movie Dead Poets Society. I cannot find a better answer than this one. I believe that Iliad would never have been written if Homer had not existed, and the same goes for Hamlet without Shakespeare, or a certain divine poetry of love without Jalal al-Din Rumi. I don’t mean that I am aligned with those who have left their prints in the great cultures of the world. What I mean is that this was my destiny and that, if I were to be born twice more, this is the way that would have chosen me.
