After being published in Serbia, Croatia and Kosovo, the book “Laughter under the Gallows”, authored by Radet Radovanović from Belgrade, had its Bosnian promotion in Tuzla tonight at the Bosnian Cultural Center TK.
The subtitle of the documentary novel offers an answer on the topic: “Everything you wished you didn’t know about the war in Kosovo”. Radovanović points out that after the book was printed, it was hated in Serbia, as he claims, on the orders of the current government. But, despite that, it saw two editions in Serbia, and then in the countries of the region.
The editor of the Bosnian edition is Damir Bećirović, Ph.D., who says about Radovanović’s novel:
“The novel “Laughter under the Gallows”, by Radet Radovanović, is published for the first time in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is a documentary novel, a true testimony about Serbia at the time of the NATO intervention and the war in Kosovo. The author speaks in the language of facts and truth. The book was not approved in Serbia, but this should be understood in the context of the current government and their control of the media. However, two editions of the book were printed in Serbia, and in Kosovo and Croatia.”
The author, Rade Radovanović, was the head of correspondence at Radio Free Europe from Belgrade during the NATO intervention and the war in Kosovo. Every written sentence, he claims, he supported with facts.
“Both the title and the subtitle refer, conditionally and unconditionally, to readers in Serbia, because in Serbia there are by far the most readers and those who do not know, because they do not want to know, what is the truth about the war in Kosovo. Regardless of whether they didn’t have the opportunity or are turning their heads away from the wars in the former Yugoslavia. The title “Laughter under the gallows” is a psychological or psychiatric expression and denotes someone who is in a hopeless life situation or is literally on the gallows or in front of a shooting machine, and in such a situation he laughs,” says Radovanović.
In the meantime, the crisis in Kosovo has been brought up again, the same events and spoken words are repeated, and the author Radovanović, explaining the title, claims that people in these areas are under threats or blackmail every day, so sometimes they laugh under the gallows, and sometimes they cry.
“A comparison between 1991 and 2023 can be made when it comes to Belgrade and Serbia, just as a comparison can be made between the then dictator, untried war criminal Slobodan Milošević, and his minister of information from 1998, Aleksandar Vučić. Both are characters in the book, with Milošević nicknamed the Leader, and Vučić nicknamed the Minister. I did it so that I wouldn’t write those names all the time because I have a great aversion to them,” said Radovanović.
Radovanović did not talk about a possible catharsis in Serbia, because he thinks that it is for the psychological or psychiatric profession.
Prof. spoke about the book in great detail and precision. Dr. Enes Osmancevic, who dissected the key parts and characteristics of the book, which provides many answers to the war and crimes committed in Kosovo. After Tuzla, the promotion of the book “Laughter under the gallows” will be held tomorrow in Mostar.
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