Introduction

Well Known Surprises

December again and its illusions that something is ending, that something is beginning around the corner. And again our ridiculous statements: ”What is this, it’s never been like this before!?” Not New Year’s psychosis, not a traffic collapse, not air pollution, not commercial and advertising hysteria, not the madness of feverish typing with thumbs on the monitor. Never?
Some have long and proudly repeated Mija Pavlović’s verse: ”Your sword is too small to cut off the head of the whole country.” Now, when they hear the news from the country and the world, they fall silent. If their head is still in place. Perhaps the explanation is in the aphorism of the lucid Aleksandar Baljak: ”Serbia will be a leader in the region when it establishes good relations with all the states that were created on its territory.” Then all worries would be taken care of, because it would no longer be there.
Making a new issue of Serbia, we walked through Čubur awith bitter tenderness, we remembered Irig in Serbian literature (and vice versa), we bought seashells from the Himalayas in Nepal. We celebrated the anniversaries of Prince Mihailo, Branko Radičević, and Jovan Dučić. Visited the national parks on Tara and Kopaonik. Lounged with Jadar bard Ljubo Ćorilić. ”And that’s not all!” they shout in the commercials.
What we welcome, we will quickly send away. Think about that.