After the publication of four excellent collections of short stories, writer Rumena Buzharovska decided to write a novel and, judging by the euphoria among the audience at the promotion, its literary success is already guaranteed.

After taking her into its fold, the publishing center "Three" first republished the previous collections of short stories of the writer Rumena Buzharovska, then the publication of the book of essays "God, pa America" ​​followed, and on December 4, the first novel was promoted in "Javna soba" of Bužarovska with the title "Tony".

The release of the novel was followed by a bombastic announcement that it is a book that will knock you off the ground and make you question the social, romantic and family relationships of our everyday life. The promotion was followed by many readers of Bužarovska's works, and it took place through a conversation with the author, the poetess, founder and chief editor of "Meduza", Kalia Dimitrova, and the Macedonian writer Petar Andonovski.

In this period, Rumena Bužarovska is one of the most successful contemporary Macedonian writers. In addition to writing, he is engaged in translation and teaches American literature and translation at the Faculty of Philology in Skopje. Her books have been translated and published in fifteen languages, and with some of her short stories she is also present on the theater stage. Before we started to discover the novel "Tony" I remembered a conversation we had about her short stories.

In one of our previous conversations, you pointed out that the short story is a form in which you are in love. Your short story collections have really been a fantastic success. How did you reach for the longer prose form, that is, what prompted you to write a novel?

– I started writing a series of short stories in which the main character was the same everywhere, and along the way I realized that that character could, in fact, be the same, so I decided that it would be better to connect the stories and assemble the narrative into a novel. By the way, it was also a challenge for me, because in recent years I have ventured into writing in other genres: in addition to columns, I started writing documentaries (that's how "God, then America" ​​came out, published by "Three"), and I also wrote a children's book with humorous poems ("What did the ladybug see?" published by "Strange Forest"). The novel remained an unexplored form for me, so I decided to try it.

The title of the novel is a bit confusing, because a personal name is used, regardless of whether it is a real or fictional character. Why did you decide to title the novel that way?

- The main character in the novel is called Tony and the whole action revolves around his irresponsible life, in which he sows disaster and misfortune for his loved ones, but essentially, for himself. It is a caricature of the problems facing modern masculinity, which is why it is also tragic. It is understood that the character is fictitious, but to a large extent we recognize his characteristics in many men in our environment. I named him Tony after inspiration from the short story "The Eighth of March" in the collection "My Man", because that name seemed suitable for titling a certain type of man that we all recognize. It has several variants and exists in several languages, as a name it is sonorous and recognizable, so it seemed suitable for use.

The longer form necessarily leads to a deeper characterization of the characters. What process did you go through building the main character?

– Honestly, it was not as difficult as I imagined. I had to keep notes on the consistency of the characters and their stories, so that there were no logical inconsistencies. That's why I spent a longer process inventing and sketching the novel, so that the writing process itself would be easier for me and I wouldn't get lost in narrative traps (a process that started in 2021). In a way, it's like being called to the police station after committing a crime, and having to consistently repeat the same story you made up over and over again (as we see in crime dramas). Otherwise, I enjoyed building characters over longer runs, and it was a lot of fun.

What environment does the character live in?

– In a modern, Skopje environment, in 2021 at the height of the pandemic. I invested a lot of attention and effort to make the main character and secondary characters speak in a lively, contemporary, even brutal language that reflects our everyday life and our time.

Is his story the result of inspiration or the perception of moments from reality?

- Perceiving moments from reality are my inspiration, so both. Of course, the story is fictitious, and this can be seen by the fact that it is grotesque, but still in the grotesque there is something that is literal, or else, a literal transfer of the reality that amazes the story. The literal transmission, however, does not mean that those characters really exist or that all those situations happened exactly as they were transmitted. The writer must invent, but also be true to reality.

To what extent can we treat the novel as a note about the hometown?

- To some extent, yes, because Skopje is written as I experience it: sometimes romantic and fragrant, and often grey, polluted and hopeless.

In your previous book "God, America" ​​you made an essay analysis of American society. To what extent is the novel a prose vivisection of Macedonian society?

- To some extent, yes, because that is what I have tried to achieve in my short stories. On the other hand, in "Tony" there is also a certain universality due to the transmission of the tradition of masculinity, as well as details that will surely be recognizable for the region, especially in the territory of the former Yugoslavia.

Promoters of the novel (at the promotion) were Kalia Dimitrova and Petar Andonovski. What is the basis of the choice for those two to present the novel?

- There are three reasons. The first is that Petar and Kalia are excellent writers, and in different forms (Petar is a novelist, Kalia is a poet and columnist). The second is that they are both social emancipators. They have done a lot for the advancement of this society, and I expect that they will do even more, because it is something inevitable in their characters. And thirdly, as people they are witty, pleasant and sincere, which is why we are friends.

Gender relations are often at the fore in many of your prose works. Why?

- Because I believe that gender inequality is the first and basic inequality in humanity that has been present since the very beginnings of what we call civilization.

Together with Ana Vasileva and "Tiiiit!" Inc" you manage to make a multi-year continuity of the event "PeachPeach", always on different and provocative topics. What impact does the event have in terms of improving the position of women in our society?

- I think we had an effect, and I can see it in the audience - how sensitized they are to gender issues, which I am really happy about. This happens when you have a tradition of an event, so, for example, the Skopje Jazz Festival has built an audience that is really connoisseur of jazz, or in other places you have film festivals with an audience that really knows how to watch and appreciate movies (that I last witnessed it at the Belgrade "Film Author's Festival"). Since our audience is mostly female, yes, after nine years of continuity and three events a year, I think we have made progress in terms of gender awareness.

To what extent can the personal stories told on "PeachPritch" be an inspiration for subsequent works of prose?

- This has not happened to me personally, because these are other people's stories that the storytellers themselves have to write. But I think some of them have already done that. And we also had the case of the actress Sofia Ristevska, who developed a stand-up career after brilliant several times on "PeachPritch" with her comic stories.

Main character in the novel "Tony" – Banally comical reality

The story in "Tony" revolves around a middle-aged former rocker from Skopje, who lives with his mother and "works" in a state institution. During the pandemic, unintentionally, but through his own fault, he causes several events that forever change his life and the lives of the people around him. By putting himself first, Tony holds steadfastly to his illusory definition of personal freedom. Instead of nourishing his personal relationships with empathy, he begins to parasitically eat away at the empathy and love of the people who care about him. And it's slowly sinking. But even that doesn't make him aware to become a better rocker and a better person. Tony is sinking, dragged down by the burden of his casual attitude towards life, his own lack of integrity and living on an old glory that is also in question. Along with him, the people in his life sink, victims of Tony's readiness, who is completely unaware of the impact on the losses he causes. Like a real lion in the sign, and also in the soul. After all, reality is always more shocking than what is written in the books. And banally comical.

Kalia Dimitrova – Archetype of toxic masculinity

- The novel "Tony" is a satire of the closed models of masculinity (transmitted trans-generationally through the omniscient and ingenious, yet absent, Father), who, in an attempt to remain unchanged, destroy everything around them. In short, the world changes, but Tony doesn't. This novel comes at a perfect socio-political moment, when on the one hand, both intimately and collectively, we're tired of male irresponsibility, but we're still struggling to point the finger at Tony. Probably because we've all fallen into the trap of believing that Tony is the exception, not the rule. Rumena masterfully writes about the consequences of the actions of this universal, sufficiently local and equally global archetype of toxic masculinity, offering us a cathartic reading experience, while at the same time confronting us with the question, until when will this Tony be replicated?

Petar Andonovski – Metastases of society

– Rumena Bužarovska, both in her short stories and in her first novel "Tony", shows us all the metastases of society through the language of humor. So, again dealing with topics that almost no one talks about, Bužarovska's first novel is a serious slap on the face of the patriarchy. After reading this novel, even those who do not feel "affected" will look at male irresponsibility, arrogance and self-confidence differently.

(The interview was published in "Kulturen Pechat" number 259, in the print edition of the newspaper "Sloboden Pechat" on 7-9.12.2024)