Lake Como

Solitude is a wonderful thing if you can handle it, says the author of Lake Como, relying on his own experience of living in a voluntarily chosen margin. When his hero, a novelist, receives a Rockefeller scholarship to spend a month in Villa Maranese in Bellagio on Lake Como, he is bound to reconsider his measure of things, to find his place in a world of whose existence he was not aware of before.

In his work, Valjarević is uncompromisingly open and honest both to others and to himself - no wonder his readers trust him and understand his need to be who he is, any time, at any cost. Be it in Belgrade, Bellagio or on the Island of Korčula, he keeps his mind open and the membrane of his identity permeable but firm. And because of this, the hero of the novel is able to have fun and enjoy in the fine things of this fleeting life. Because of this, solitude becomes him perfectly.

For Lake Como, Srđan Valjarević received the Eastern European literary award "Bank Austria Literaris 2008".

"I can only write about what I know well, and the way I see things. And that"s the way I see them, every person and every story is at the same time humorous and difficult, and so is life... And in this world as it is, the biggest human tragedy, people can only be funny and ludicrous in the way they do things and the things they do. And of course, I see myself at the head of all the funny people, and that is the easiest way for me, but also the most exciting one. It"s the only story I know."
Srdjan Valjarevic in an Interview to B92