by Ismet Prcic
How do you interpret the epigraph from Samuel Beckett that precedes Notebook Two (p. 311)? How might wanting a story for oneself be a mistake? Ismet writes in his diary, “One thing about forcing a life into a story is that you become a character and when the story ends you do, too” (p. 339). What role does storytelling play in your understanding of your own life? Is there a way in which you feel as though you become a character when you narrate your experiences to others?
Ismet flirts with suicide by closing his eyes on the highway but he always opens them, which he interprets as “a conditioned response, this choosing life; I do it out of habit” (p. 342). Why does he feel betrayed by his survival instinct in America when he has shown so much bravery and ingenuity in getting himself there? How does this square with his preoccupation with the meaninglessness and absurdity of life (existentialist themes shared by artists who interest him, like Beckett, Dostoyevsky, Tarkovsky)?
How do you interpret the novel’s ending? Do you believe that Ismet actually killed himself, or is that left ambiguous? Consider the ending in relation to the scene where Ismet goes to visit Mustafa Nalic’s alleged grave back in Bosnia. How might these two scenes resonate, reinforce, or even undermine one another?
When Asya and Ismet encounter the Great Dane, Ismet reconstructs the dog’s life story (pp. 154–156). Has he had a sort of mystical vision, like the ones his mother has, or is this just his wild imagination? Given that the name “Archibald” comes to him and saves them from danger, is an argument being made here for vision/imagination as life-saving?
Throughout the book, Ismet experiences a split between his body and mind, wherein he is able to look at himself with detachment, as though he were looking at another person. What triggers these experiences? (p. 17, pp. 190–191, pp. 258–259.) Have you ever experienced something like them?
Suggestions for further reading:
Sarajevo Blues by Semezdin Mehmedinovic; Nowhere Man by Aleksandar Hemon; Sarajevo Marlboro by Miljenko Jergovic; The Bridge on the Drina by Ivo Andric; The Ministry of Pain by Dubravka Ugresic; Scar on the Stone: Contemporary Poetry from Bosnia, edited by Chris Agee; How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone by Saša Staniši; Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi; What Is the What by Dave Eggers; Dancing Arabs by Sayed Kashua, Safe Area Gorazde: The War in Eastern Bosnia 1992- 1995 by Joe Sacco; Then They Started Shooting: Growing Up in Wartime Bosnia by Lynne Jones; Slaughterhouse: Bosnia and the Failure of the West by David Rieff; Love Thy Neighbor: A Story of War by Peter Maass; Café Europa: Life After Communism by Slavenka Drakulic