Sarajevo A War Journal Author:Zlatko Dizdarevic Reprinted from Oslobodenje, a Sarajevo newspaper, these beautifully crafted essays reflect everyday existence in a city under continual bombardment, from April 1992 to January 1993. Dizdarevic, editor of the newspaper and a writer with a distinctive voice, conveys the hellish scene impressionistically: a burial under sniper fire; a boy compulsiv... more »ely fetching buckets of water to pour on his dead parents in an attempt to revive them. In a typically eloquent passage, he writes: "I saw a watchmaker's shop that was open for business. What struck me as odd was not that shops are still open, but that there still are people here who are interested in knowing what time it is, and that there are other people who actually know." Dizdarevic's fury surfaces when he writes about the United Nations peacekeeping force, whose presence has come to symbolize "international hypocrisy and political dirty dealing." A Muslim who is married to a Serb, Dizdarevic resists taking sides editorially. These gem-like pieces are about human behavior in a city under siege.
A disturbing and useful account, certainly a primary source, and one of the most current descriptions of the situation in book form. "We've finally gotten used to people dying for no good reason, and we no longer look for any logic in day-to-day events. Now we must accept that hope is equally pointless." That is from Didzarevic's June 29, 1992 editorial in his paper Oslobodenje, now the only newspaper in Sarajevo. This collection of essays, written from April 1992 through August 1993, vividly describes the carnage and destruction caused by the Serbian bombing of the city. Didzarevic seems rarely to lose his sense of irony and pride as he asks uncomfortable questions and wonders at the lack of aid, both emotional and practical, from the "free world." While detailing the bombing of the newspaper building or of a hospital ward, or reflecting on the loss of friends or the desertion of acquaintances, he maintains a belief in the endurance of the spirit of this venerable city and a disdain for the rest of the world, which permits such suffering and believes the Serbian "lies." The essays are beautifully constructed and very unsettling. The purpose of the book is obviously to encourage support of Sarajevo by the UN as well as by Europe and the U.S. Photographs; a chronology from November 1989-August 1993; maps; and a glossary of key people, places, and events are included.« less