CHRONICLES 16

Writing Time in the Meantime

by Laszlo Vegel

"There are times when I think I will never leave the Dunavska Street, that I'll stay here forever, hanging around like some long forgotten guard who has himself forgotten the password and what was it he was supposed to guard. His watch is meaningless, but he still remains in his post, as he has nowhere else to go; his succumbs not to general local-patriotism, for his meaningless commitment makes him ever more convinced that everything is in vain. I watch and wait. Actually, I see myself as a stranger like many others keeping their meaningless watch," writer Laszlo Vegel wrote in the prologue to his collection of essays. Having opted to publish literary pieces - a policy uncharacteristic for this edition - the Helsinki Committee bore in mind that the writings - author's diary - collected in "Writing Time in the Meantime" were crucially determined by the fact that they refer to the period 2000-2003. In other words, to the last days of Milosevic's crumbling regime and the dawn of a new one. The author's mild irony suggests his skepticism about the "new era" of betrayed hopes.