Oldis o Helikoniji...

[Mica Milovanovic]

U jednom pismu iz 1985. Oldis kaže:

"Damien Broderick, in his review of the first two Helliconias, asks, 'Do we really wish to hear about these flawed, nervy kings and their beautiful, betrayed women?' Good question. Ply answer would be an enthusiastic Yes, which is why I wrote about them. Another answer to Damien would be that I derived this particular bit of the Helliconia story from the Nemanija dynasty which ruled a medieval Serbian state until the Turks overwhelmed them. Milutin, in particular, married a child bride for dynastic reasons. Third answer to the rhetorical question, and the best one, would be that while you are reading of this flawed king and his betrayed queen, you are also reading a drama of human lust and possessiveness. The story makes it clear that the queen really can't let go of the king, even when dismissed, any more than he can of her. And there are the lesser personages all the time, many of them slaves. In a sense, the whole book - to be completed on 18 April when Winter appears - is 'about' our fever to possess one another; the happiness it brings, the misery, I'm glad that Damien didn't consciously observe this, since it absolves me from the charge of didacticism,,. No, I'm cheating saying it that way: for in the end of Winter I do almost step forward and deliver my message to camera. You can't write three slogging great novels like these without having something to say about which you feel strongly."