Fama o biciklistima

by Svetislav Basara

"Konačno, negde početkom leta 1986, sasvim sam odustao od namere da Fama - tada još bez imena - bude «kompaktan» roman u kome bi neki ljudi, u nekim oklonostima, lamentirali nad palošću sveta i iznosili svoje pseudosisteme. Naše vreme, mislio sam, je vreme fragmentarnosti, poludovršenosti, nedovršenosti. Pisaću poglavlja, mislio sam dalje, samo do granice na kojoj prestaje unutrašnji smisao. Ređaću ih onakva kako nastaju. Neću pokušavati da nasilno krpim i lepim nespojivo da bih dobio varljivi utisak celine. Ako je već sve u svetu rasuto; ako su «stvari koje treba da budu zajedno razdvojene, a stvari koje treba da budu razdvojene - spojene», zašto bih se ja upuštao u avanturu njihovog veštačkog spajanja. Na ruku takvim razmišljanjima išla mi je i tadašnja lektira (Špengler, Genon, Ortega i Gaset) iz koje sam usvojio saznanje da propast celovitosti, degradacija i degeneracija sveta uopšte nisu loše stvari, da su one neizbežne etape koje prethode Spasiteljevom drugom dolasku i obnovi sveta."
-------- Svetislav Basara

Genres: Fiction, Serbian Literature, Novels, Literary Fiction, Mystery, Contemporary, Fantasy

284 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Svetislav Basara (Serbian cyrillic: Светислав Басара) is a Serbian writer and columnist.
He is the author of more than forty literary works, including novels, story collections, and essays. For his novel Fuss about Cyclists (Fama o biciklistima) David Albahari said: "After the appearance of The Fuss about Cyclists, one can safely say, the Serbian prose has never been the same, just like Basara has never been the same author, just like I have never been the same reader again."

Basara received the NIN Prize, a prestigious Serbian literary award for the best novel, twice. In 2006 for 'Uspon i pad Parkinsonove bolesti' (The Rise and the Fall of Parkinson's Disease). and in 2020 for the novel Kontraendorfin (Counter-endorphin).

He was the ambassador of FR Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) in Cyprus from 2001 to 2005.

Reviews

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kowalskyyy!

The Evangelical Bicyclists of the Rose Cross are lurking the shadows, their numbers are made up with people like George W. Bush Jr, Emil Cioran, Steven Hawking and Woody Allen. They have existed for centuries and they meet in their dreams and plot for the final battle when the forces of good will vanquish the worldly forces of evil. Some say that they have existed ever since the Tower of Babylon was destroyed and the Architects who attempted the infernal tower's creation began to plan a new tower that would realize their Satanic aims. The Little Brotherhood, as they are also known, are waging war against the Architects, against the evil of the world and ushering a time when the world will be at unity with God again. They can not be stopped, death does not stop them, time is an illusion to them and they meet in dreams where past / present / future are fictions.

This book collects some of the writings that have been made public about the Little Brotherhood and it's members, it is fragmentary but consists of primary historical documents. The time of their victory must be close if they are now allowing the publication of their works in editions numbering more than their customary six copies that were to be hidden so the proper person could find them.

Review?

Sooooo good! It's like a Borges / Pynchon sandwich of literary awesomeness. There isn't a 'story' per se, but the construction of this whole secret society through various biographies, articles in journals, letters, poems and assorted other writings. For someone who loves the conspiracy stuff in Pynchon and the Pseudo-Literary creations in Borges this is a dream of a piece of Literature. Who knew that something this good was just hiding out in Serbia waiting to be translated into English? How many other really amazing books are out there in other countries possibly never to be translated or published in America because the current state of bringing capital L contemporary foreign literature to America is a task pretty much ignored by the major publishers (unless it's Scandinavian and involves murrrrrrrrder!), and really only a handful of publishers (Open Letter, Dalkey, Europa, New Directions and somewhat New York Review of Books) are seriously working towards getting some of this stuff into American bookshops.

Some Opinions

This book is sort of a satire on the whole secret society / conspiracy thing. The name of the group obviously references the Rosicrucians, who are one of those Secret Societies that come and go in people's imaginations as doing all sorts of things that may or may not be true. The group in the book are in direct opposition to the Masons, who can be seen as the Architects. Basara, has created a group and stuck them right in the middle of the mythologies of the secret societies that people are continually fascinated by.

I am fascinated by secret societies and they show up in quite a few of my favorite books. I am also fascinated by Jesus and Christianity, and they show up in some books I really enjoy, too, and both things I find to be fun to think about and play with in my imagination but I don't really believe in. I say not really because I do believe that Christianity and Secret Societies exist, but I don't believe in them. I believe that overweight business men meet at Mason meetings and that rich powerful men meet for meetings and hang out in the woods together sometimes to get shitfaced but I don't believe that they are secretly guiding history towards nefarious ends that only some unbathed crackpots and people who listen to AM radio at 4 in the morning will ever be able to see the truth about. No, I believe rich powerful men rule the world because they are rich and powerful and they meet each other and don't want us present because they are rich and powerful and who wants to hang out with a bunch of non-rich and powerful people if you are rich and powerful? And they rule the world because they have been voted into power, have taken power by some kind of force, run the banks, own movie studios or whatever because they are either, driven, lucky, born to the right family or just smart at succeeding at things like that. A good portion of them know each other, or were in similar college clubs or whatnot because people who are rich and powerful, who desire to be rich and powerful or who are born into families that are rich and powerful will tend to gravitate to the same types of things. Just like everyone else in the whole world tends to gravitate towards things that they are interested in and hang out with people who have similar interests, socio-economic backgrounds or whatnot.

Of course this is what they want you to think.

Conspiracy nuts are a tiresome bunch. Seriously, I don't need to hear about how The Hunger Games is part of the Illuminati's plan to sell us on the idea of this type of reality so that we will be more willing to live in in the dystopia presented in the books and soon to be released film. The Illuminati is pushing zombie novels on us so that we will readily accept an apocalyptic scenario that they will be able to rise up and take control over the wreckage of a decimated many times over population. The Bush administration didn't need 9/11 to be an inside job in order to sell a war in the Middle East to the American public, the American public buys wars like suckers supposedly used to buy the Brooklyn Bridge. I could go on and on, but the time keeps getting later and I don't want to leave this review half done for morning.

I'd suggest that believing in conspiracy theories are great for people who feel a total existential anguish at being forced to live in world without purpose, without God, without any meaning imposed from the outside in. It reinstates an outside agency that has power over day to day lives, it makes the events of the world (like an Earthquake happening being blamed on some device being powered up in Alaska) have meaning instead of just quite possibly being random acts beyond ours or anyone else's control. Even if it's an 'evil' force at work on the world it still inscribes a story, a meaning, a narrative, a purpose to what is happening. Maybe that is more comforting than the fact that we are all essentially nothing and don't matter, and that our planet doesn't matter and that in a cosmic sense we are just about as close to nothing in the size we are and time we exist as you can possibly be. Rather maybe it's better to spend your time thinking about ways that Obama is sitting in some secret room plotting out a way to trick all Americans into some weird conspiracy with a handful of other rulers of the world who are guided by centuries old dreams of creating a vast utopia for some aliens, reptilians and Satan.

Shameless self-promotion

I've written sort of about this topic before in my review for Them . I think I might have been a bit more coherent there.

[Argos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Son yıllarda birbirine benzer kurguda yazılan romanlardan biri “Bisikletçi Kumpası”. Gerçekleri (bunlar kişi de olabilir, mekan veya olay da) gerçeküstü bir dille, hatta fantastik bir dille anlatılarak geçmişi, bugünü, geleceği bir kitapta buluşturmak olarak özetleyebilirim bu kurguyu. Slav yazar Basara da benzer yöntemleri kullanmış, bir de kurmaca karakter (Kral Berbat Charles) ile kurguyu neşelendirmiş.

Kurgu için başta el yazmaları olmak üzere tarihi belgeler, şekilli dökümanlar ve kitaplar ile günümüzde okunan kitaplarla ve Freud’dan A. Conan Doyle’ye çağımızda bilinen birçok tanınmış isimden yararlanmış. Aslında ciddi boyutlarda felsefi bir disseksiyon var romanda. Mizah unsuruna rağmen inançların, ideolojilerin, masonluk ve benzeri tarikat gibi oluşumların paçavraya çevrildiğini görüyoruz. Teoloji ile bisiklet ilişkisi oldukça eğlenceli.

Romanın anlatılacak bir öyküsü varsa da bunlar hep tarihsel belgelerden kaynaklanıyor, kısaca bisikleti düşünerek ezoterik bilgiler edinen ve tarihi olayları kullanarak çalışan komplocu gizli bir Kardeşliğin hikayesi anlatılmaktadır. Tabii iş bu kadar basit değil. Yazarın fikri yapısını anladığımı söyleyemem, yepyeni düşünceleri eski bohçalara sararak ortaya sürüyor, neyi savunuyor veya neye karşı geliyor, sırf bunu anlayabilmek için bazı yerleri döndüm bir daha okudum. Kolay bir okuma olmadı benim için.

Belki zihnen yorgun bir dönemime geldi belki de mizahi diline rağmen yazarın yazdıkları düşünsel bazda benim için çok yoğundu. Önemsediğim dostların güzel yorumlarını düşündüğümde, yazara ulaşamadım sanırım, bu nedenle beklediğim kadar keyif alamadım açıkçası. Önermeye kalkmıyorum bu yüzden.

[MJ Nicholls · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book upon book upon book read by MJ, another capsule review scrunched and scrunched and scrunched, another five or six idle likes from the idle masses. The MJ GR reviewing production line is: ON STRIKE! You hear me, ingrates?! I have signed up instead to the Evangelical Bicyclists of the Rose Cross, and I will be reviewing instead the correspondence from Joseph Kowalsky, beginning with a letter from Sigmund Freud to Manny Rayner, outlining his new theory about GR reviewers whose phallic reviewing output signifies their dormant desire to sleep with their grandmothers (what else?) There is also a chapter on nervous drivers whose reluctance to overtake cyclists leads to massive tailbacks, and panicked skids into the oncoming lanes, and unfortunate backlogs in emergency wards. I have contributed a chapter to the Kowalsky Pictograph and Symbols Guide, praising the work of Half Man Half Biscuit, whose brand of obscure-reference indie is underappreciated among the mainstream. I will return anon (and on and on), and will not be reviewing this book.

[Bilal Y. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oyuncul, fantastik bir roman gibi başlayıp, bir felsefi denemeler metnine dönüşen anlatı biçimi. Başlangıç eğlendiriciydi, sonrası ise aydınlatıcı ve çarpıcı... Yeni bir terminoloji geliştirip, dünyayı, insanlığı açıklama çabası da benim için apayrı bir deneyim oldu.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first 75 pages of this book floored me. Basara posits a sect whose members question the nature of reality and strive to separate themselves from the lies that they see pervading all existence. Various documents surface throughout the book, including a "lost" Sherlock Holmes story; correspondence between Sigmund Freud and characters in the book; newspaper editorials discussing the ideological stance of some mysterious document called the "Dictionary of Technology;" and many other fragments and parts in different genres and modes.

Collectively, these pieces loosely describe a secret society that has charged itself with combating a great mental sickness that plagues nearly every human being in history. Some of the documents that Basara includes in his book--I hesitate to say "story," since there is little plot here in terms of a series of events--are fantastic, including the Holmes story and a narrative from an architect who is hired to repair a massive cathedral that only exists on the plane of dreams; other pieces in this gestalt emphasized the analytical without furthering Basara's wild and weird ideas, and thus made for dry reading in comparison to companion pieces.

This was not an easy read, yet the more that I think about it, the more that I love it. So many interesting tales are hinted at, and though Basara barely sketches them into existence, my own imagination grabbed them and set off at a run. Thus I put this book down picturing a squad of specially trained Nazi commandos charged with attacking the Evangelical Bicyclists of the Rose Cross in the dreamscape; or a mess of bicyclists competing in a marathon across parts of Eastern Europe, each member using this race as a smokescreen to hide his or her true mission: to complete a small task that will later disrupt major events.

This was a bizarre and wonderful read.

[Vuk Vuckovic · Rating 2 out of 5]

3 (+/-) zanimljivo, ali verujem da bih imao mnogo pozitivnije mišljenje o knjizi da sam je pročitao pre 10 godina.
Jasno mi je zašto se smatra kultnom (postmodernom) knjigom kod nas - u to vreme bila je nešto novo, ali mislim da nije ostarila baš najbolje.
plus, stvarno je previše fragmentarna (a fragmenti pisani od različitih ljudi u različitim epohama često su stilski potpuno isti)...fragmenti od po 2-3 strane i tako jedno 50 puta - previše i premalo u isto vreme.

Sad što se tiče postmoderne sa kraja osamdesetih i u devedesetim, od onoga što sam ja čitao, mislim da je Vojislav Despotov naš ubedljivo najbolji pisac u tom periodu i da je ostavio mnogo koherentnije i snažnije delo od Basare (pa i Albaharija - Radoslava Petkovića ne računam u postmoderniste i on je odličan pisac takođe): Mrtvo Mišljenje i Evropa broj 2 su romani svetskog kalibra. Sjajni su i njegovi eseji, celokupna poezija, romani za decu (šatro) kao što je Petrovgradska prašina.
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EDIT: Ipak dvojka. I jedna dosta zanimljiva tema: Kako je objava knjige Zmija i zmaj: uvod u istoriju alhemije, objavljena u Jugoslaviji 1985. godine, uticala na metafizičke ideje u romanu Fama o biciklistima.

[Erkan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okuyucuyu zorlayan, büyük bir zekanın ürünü olduğunu düşündüğüm, tek okumayla anlaşılması zor bir roman..

[Holy Friar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Крутіть педалі, дивіться у калейдоскоп!
Історія про те, як я шукав мідь, а знайшов золото.
Отже, “Фама про велосипедистів” Светислава Басари. Як би це пояснити... Уявіть, що ви знайшли на компі приховану папку, а в ній купа дивних файлів: щоденник божевільного короля, протокол допиту інквізиції, звіт Шерлока Голмса, листи Зиґмунда Фройда і навіть якийсь секретний аналіз спецслужб, переписки, біографії, мемуари, вибрані твори. І всі вони, хоч і написані в різні епохи, розповідають про одне й те саме - таємний орден велосипедистів, який століттями бореться з глобальною змовою.
Це не роман у звичному розумінні. Тут немає головного героя чи прямої сюжетної лінії. Натомість автор кидає вас у вир із міфів, спекуляцій та історичних анекдотів, і ви самі складаєте пазл. Це постмодернізм в одній зі своїх найвищих ітерацій - та постмодерністська проза, яка може бути не лише інтелектуально викликовою, але й надзвичайно дотепною та захопливою. Спочатку мозок трохи закипає, але потім ви втягуєтесь у гру.
Головні фішки:
Пекельний гумор. Це своєрідний багатоступеневий постіронічний стендап. Інтелектуальна, сатирична, часом абсурдна й пророча історія.
Логічна головоломка. Ви постійно намагаєтесь знайти зв'язки між різними частинами, і коли це вдається - відчуваєте себе справжнім детективом.
Політ фантазії. Басара - геній містифікації. Він так майстерно поєднує реальні історичні факти з вигадкою, що в певний момент ви й самі починаєте задумуватись, в який абсурд вірите.
Якщо вам подобаються інтелектуальні головоломки, теорії змов (подані з гумором), і ви любите таких авторів, як Умберто Еко чи жарти Славоя Жижека, тоді варто взяти і цю книгу. Басара доводить до логічного завершення постмодерністську тезу про те, що поза текстом немає нічого. Персонажі читають один про одного, коментують тексти один одного та існують у межах різних “документів”. Світ книжки - це бібліотека, де межа між реальністю та її описом стерта. Це справжня знахідка для тих, хто шукає в літературі щось свіже.
Підсумок: це одна з найоригінальніших книг, які я читав за останній час. Вона хоч і химерна, смішна й, на мій смак, занадто абсурдна, але змушує по-новому поглянути на історію, релігію та й узагалі на все на світі.
Усім велосипедистам однозначно рекомендую.

[İpek Dadakçı · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yazarın zekasını ve ince mizah anlayışını her sayfada hissettiğiniz sıra dışı metinlerden biri Sırp yazar Svetislav Basara’nın eseri Bisikletçi Kumpası.

Kitap, 14. yüzyılda hayali bir kralın, krallığının kuruluşunu, yönetimini, kahyasını anlatımıyla başlıyor. Bu kısımda tarih, tarihin yazımı, zaman, tarihi olaylar, yönetimler, toplum, inançlarla ilgili ufuk açıcı görüşlerini paylaşıyor yazar. Ardından, Engizisyon’dan kaçarak bu krala sığınan bir ruhani liderle hikaye ilerliyor; kitabın devamı bu ruhani liderin, kendince kutsal saydığı bir metinle etrafına topladığı müritleri ve oluşturduğu inanç sistemiyle, bir tarikatın yüzyıllara yayılan hikayesi etrafında şekilleniyor.

Her ne kadar hikaye desem de, tarz ve biçim olarak çok acayip, çok farklı bir metin Bisikletçi Kumpası. Fantastik bir hiciv gibi başlıyor, ardından daha çok yazarın fikirlerini aktarmak amacıyla gazete yazıları, makaleler, haberler gibi değişik yazıları da dahil ettiği, klasik bir olay örgüsünü ya da doğrusal bir hikayeyi takip etmeyen, tarihin farklı noktalarından son derece yaratıcı ve eğlenceli aktarılan kesitlerden oluşan çağdaş ve alışılagelmişin çok dışında bir tarzı var kitabın.

Basara, Bisikletçi Kumpası’nda, ideolojilerin, tarikatların, din ve mezheplerin ya da kısaca inançların bir parodisini sunuyor. İnsanın doğasındaki inanma, bir topluluğa ait olma, bir ideolojiyle dünyada, ülkesinde ve çevresinde olup bitenleri anlamlandırma ihtiyacı ve bununla doğasının çelişkilerini muhteşem analiz ediyor. Hayali ve çok yaratıcı bir tarikatla -Bisikletçiler hakikaten olağanüstü bir fikir- bir inanç sistemini, bunun çevresinde oluşan topluluğu her yönüyle ele alıyor. Bir tarikatın ya da inanç sisteminin, kendi içinde çok doğal görülen bir çıkış noktası, bağlandığı ve adeta bir uhu gibi müritlerini bağlayan değer yargıları ve kendine has sembollerinin olması ve böylece içeriden bir göze oldukça mantıklı ve tutarlı görünmesi ancak bunların topluluğa yabancı birine anlatmakta çok zorlanacağımız, hatta objektif değerlendirildiğinde mantıksız ve saçma görünebilmesi, kadını ve özellikle kadın bedenini çarpık bir algı içine hapsetmesi, insanlar tarafından zaman zaman kendi işlerine gelen şekilde yorumlanması, yüzyıllar içinde aktarılırken geçirdiği değişimler ve dönemin şartlarına uyum sağlayarak yorumlanması ve dönem içinde kabul görmediğinde cezalandırılması, bilimle ilişkisi gibi pek çok yönü ve hayran bırakan detaylarıyla bir parodi sunuyor. Hayali bir tarikatın bu şekilde tüm boyutlarıyla inşa edilmesinin yanında, kurguda Freud, Sherlock Holmes gibi gerçek ya da kurgusal tarihi kişileri yine yazarın dahiyane mizah anlayışıyla birlikte görmek ona hayranlığımı daha da arttırdı.

Yazarın söyleyecekleri bu hayali tarikat ve genel anlamda inançlarla da sınırlı değil. Bir Sırp olarak, Ortodoks ve Katolikler arasındaki ayrılıklar (ki bilgi birikimim yetse bu kısımlardan çok daha fazla keyif alacağımı düşünüyorum), Doğu, özellikle Stalin yönetimindeki SSCB ve Batı Avrupa arasında sıkışıp kalmışlık, her ikisinin etkileri ve farkları ile 20. yüzyılda dünyayı etkisi altına almış hemen tüm siyasi ideolojilerle ilgili de adeta makale yazarmışçasına fikirlerini paylaşmış Basara.

Dahiyane yazılmış, okurken hem zihnin sınırlarını zorlayan hem de inanılmaz keyif veren, herkese öneremeyeceğim ancak bu konulara kafa yoranların okumasını çok istediğim, hayranlıkla okuduğum bir kitap.

[Tanja · Rating 5 out of 5]

Prvi put sam pročitala roman koji ima ovakav nivo mistifikacije - do te mere da pored metafikcije izražava u sebi i sumnju o sopstvenoj mistifikaciji (deo kada se spominje sam roman i sumnja u njegovu verodostojnost)!

Delo tretira mnogo tema - istoriju, odnosno vreme kao neshvatljiva mešavina prošlosti i budućnosti, ustrojstvo društva i njegove zablude, čovek i stalna potreba da svoj smisao traži u nečem što ga prevazilazi, itd. Imala sam mnogo misli, ali me je forma romana sprečila da svaku od njih dalje razvijam pošto je sam tok pripovedanja(priredjivanja?) nemetao nešto drugo u nekom novom ruhu o čemu je trebalo razmisliti na neki drugi način ili se pošteno nasmejati. Moj utisak je da je autor kao čekićem namerno razbijao svaki moj pokušaj da njegovo delo sistematizujem i dodjem do nekog generalnog utiska. Stoga ga i nemam. Imam pitanje jedno doduše - šta je Svetislav Basara ovim tekstom zaista hteo da kaže? Koliko god da mislim, ništa pametno što objašnjava ceo roman ne dolazi u glavu. Možda bi valjalo pričitati više puta.

Za osobu koja voli da književnost analizira, ovaj roman je neiscrpan izvor mogućih zaključaka upravo zbog svoje složene forme i višeslojnog kazivanja. Teoretičar u meni je bio uzbudjen.

Medjutim, običan čitalac koji se svaki dan suočava sa veoma napornom svakidašnjicom nije bio oduševljen. Famu o biciklistim nisam čitala lako niti sa nekim poletom upravo zbog čestih promena u naraciji. Peticu dobija zato što je ipak fantastično delo.

[Cestmoi]

whoever it was that translated borges into serbian is indirectly responsible for some of the greatest books of the latter half of the twentieth century. i dream of the day when the anglosphere develops the sense of literary fun that exists in other parts of the world

[Fedor Marjanović · Rating 5 out of 5]

Greška koju čitalac ne smije sebi dozvoliti. OVO NIJE KNJIGA ZA PLAŽU. Basarin roman uvlači čitaoca željnog književno-istorijskih poigravanja sa prirodom svijeta. Ne može se reći da čitalac ne pušta "Famu". "Fama" ne pušta čitaoca. Ipak ona zahtijeva pažnju i usredsređenost koju dječije i roditeljsko vrištanje pomiješano sa povremenim pijeskom u očima, traženjem zaštite od sunca i strahom da ti neko ne nagazi glavu ne dopuštaju.

Pošto sam vas upozorio mogu samo ponoviti zaključak. "Fama" ne pušta čitaoca. I ne treba. Možda se može više očekivati od njenog kraja, ali kao Kalvinov "Putnik" ni Basarina "Fama" ne može imati kraj. Njen završetak će najvjerovatnije biti završetak čitavog čovječanstva.

[Marko Bojkovský · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kakva knjiga!
Mislim da ništa nije ostavilo jači utisak na mene u poslednje 2-3 godine, a da ne pamti mkada mi je bilo krivo što je kraj. Jer, takav sam, često sam kraj zbrzam samo da mogu da biram sledeću knjigu koju ću početi. Ovde sam želeo da traje i traje. I sada mi se ništa ne čita drugo.

Basara je pravoslavac, pritom mu mistika strana nikako nije, kao i široka načitanost kako iz te sfere, tako i uopšte i to je ono što se ovde i ponajviše ogleda.
Knjiga je kvazi-povest kvazi-gnostičke kvazi-sekte Male braće evanđeoskih biciklista Ružinog krsta.

No, ovo nije igranje sa istorijom, ovo je njeno razaranje, ovo je pljuvanje istoriji u lice tlačiteljsko. Istorija, ta mučiteljica života, njena pravolinijsko kvazi-kauzalno kretanje napred je ono što metafizičara ne zanima, što ne zanima Biće, već samo biće (kako bi to on ovde rekao Volja i samovolja) i to Basara nepogrešivo zna i oseća. Takođe, mistike ne zanimaju fragmentirana stanja čoveka i jadni sedativi za "palost", za "odvojenost", surogati Sopstva, šizofrenije dualizma, ljudska prava, politička korektnost, revolucije, ideologije... sve to on ovde sprda i razara. ali tako duhovito, tako elegantno, tako razigrano da ne nameće sebe kao upravo figuru mistika, gnostičkog sektaša, mudraca, već piše toliko pokvareno i perfidno da izgleda kao da se i sa njima sprda...

[Ivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

ну о��. навіть якби прийшов Пратчетт, я б не відклав її.
спочатку книжка читається дуже важко. Розповідь про Карла Потворного, короля невідомого, загубленого в історії з його королівством. Ти не цілком розумієш що відбувається. Але вже далі починається справжні пригоди, історії з містикою.
Таємний орден велосипедистів. Ковальський. Головний розпусник велосипедист і поет(там є його вірші і вони доволі хороші).
Книжку можна читати непослідовно. І Любка, до речі, говорить те саме.
Басара грається з історією як сам собі забагне. Він навіть будує Вавилонську вежу, але навпаки. І називає її будинком для психохворих на 20 000 000 місць. А збудує її син Ковальського. Тільки от чи це увісні?
Є Шерлок Голмс, що не зміг розгадати справу божевільного велосипедиста і нервово грав на чому він там грав?
І Фройд, що намагається тлумачити сновидіння.
А ще військові сновидінь від нацистів. Сталін і Маркіз де Сад.
Читайте

[Oriana]

Ehhhhh. This is way too aggressively "smart" and "weird" and overblown and pretentious for me atm. Maybe some other time...

[Curtis · Rating 4 out of 5]

What genre is it when a book just feels like that Pepe Silvia meme?

[Metaphorosis · Rating 4 out of 5]

reviews.metaphorosis.com

4 stars

The fragmentary history of the Evangelical Bicyclists of the Rose Cross. Members receive dream instructions from future members, and arrange events so as to prevent the reconstruction of the Tower of Babylon.

This book was presented to me as "the best of Serbian sarcasm". It may well be, and it certainly has overtones of sarcasm throughout. The concept is absurd, the construction interesting, the writing strong. Serbian authors seem to tend toward the experimental, and I give full marks for that. Unfortunately, I find that they often also assume a depth of shared knowledge that I don't, in fact, share.

Basara's book is deep and incisive satire, often very funny. The deeper levels, though, are probably only available to those with long exposure to Slavic and Serbian history. Despite having lived in Serbia for several years, and in the region for many more, it was clear to me that much of the book's subtext was passing well below my metaphorical feet. At the same time, this is not one of those deliberately opaque, 'more-educated-than-thou' books. Basara is not making a point of erudition; he's just assuming you'll be able to work out his puzzles.

There are some weaknesses in the book. The experiment doesn't always work. It's presented as a hodge-podge of historical documents, including essays, letters, poems, and sketches. Mostly that works, but sometimes it does in fact feel like a random selection of whatever the author had to hand. The reading sometimes drags, less a journey of discovery than a trudge of endurance. By nature of the structure, there's little in the way of a plot, and there's not much forward motion. Much of the time, though, it's interesting.

The translation is mostly excellent; occasionally puzzling.

If you're the kind who wants action on every page, who blows through philosophical ramblings or soliloquies, don't read this. If' you're just looking for escapist light reading, this isn't the book. If you're well grounded in Christian and Serbian history, willing to read with frequent resort to Wikipedia, or just willing to grapple with ideas until you can pin them down to your satisfaction, I recommend the book. It's interesting, rewarding, and has as many levels as you can hope for.

[Strasna Mera · Rating 5 out of 5]

E ovo je tip knjige kakve ja volim! Zbavna, inteligentna, duhovita i lucidna!
Fama o biciklistima, Svetislava Basare je knjiga koja iako je nastala pre više od 30 godina ni u jednom trenutku nije izgubila išta od svoje genijalnosti. Ovaj neobični roman sastavljen od mnoštva fragmenata u vidu pisama, rukopisa, pesama, projekata, crteža...spaja se u jedno delo koje ima za cilj da demistifikuje stvarnost u kojoj živimo.
Vezivna nit ovog romana je fama o tajnom redu Evanđeoskih biciklista Ružinog krsta koji kao i svako tajno društvo i živi od fame, znači, neophodno je mistifikovati ga do te mere da svako poveruje u njega. A da li je to samo slučaj sa tajnim društvima ili i sa religijama, filozofijama, psihoanalizom ili i samim životom ? Basara nas kroz priču vodi tako da se dok priča raste, naš svet obrušava.
Da li je istorija linearna, pouzdana i stvarna? Da li nam je potrebna ludnica sa 20.000.000 mesta, ko je sve u nju smešten i gde se ona nalazi? Zašto je neophodno razbiti sat? Kako komuncirati kroz snove? Šta su tehnologija, ogledalo, dečaci i ličnost; i šta im je zajednički imenitelj? Samo su neka od pitanja na koje ćete kroz ovu knjigu dobiti odgovore.
Pisana basarovski šarmantno, ironično i na mahove groteskno ovo je neozbiljno ozbiljna knjiga koja zaslužuje kultni status koji je vremenom stekla.

[Jonfaith · Rating 4 out of 5]

My reading of such was enhanced by reading while in Beograd, but suffered from drowning in pivo and being unable to access a corresponding bucket of espresso. This was a novel with warm nature and the Indian Summer of Serbia in late September kept me in uncertain straits. I swear to not finding my equilibrium until aboard an Airbus across the Atlantic.

[Bruno · Rating 4 out of 5]

CRO/ENG
Ovo je jako neobična knjiga, pa čak i za almanah, premda nisam baš fan takvih radova. Prožeto raznim anegdotama i sporednim detaljima iz sjene velikih povijesnih događaja, Basara vješto predočava stanje društva, djelovanja i ludilo istog kroz oči drugih autora i njihovih djela, potrijepljenih skicama, fotografijama i drugim dokaznim materijalima (sve je dostupno u izdanju koje imam, uključujući i prazne stranice koje predstavljaju izgubljene spise), ostavljajući čitatelja da sam iznosi zaključke iz svega navedenog. Ako uzmemo u obzir koliko je sam bicikl spomenut u knjizi, moglo bi se reći kako je ovo i kronološki slijed razvoja bicikla u simboličnom značenju (od vražjeg djela do korisnog sredstva za širenje ideja na velikom području i predstavljanja simbolizma za koje bih lako mogao zamisliti da bi se i Robert Langdon zainteresirao). Iako sam si dao vremena za postupno čitanje od poglavlja do poglavlja, knjiga mi je ostavila dojam kako je osoba zapisivala bilješke iz različitih misli i jednostavno prestala, kada je osjetila da ulazi u slijepu ulicu. Svakako ostavlja prostora za ponovno čitanje u nekoj budućnosti.

This is a very unusual book, even for the almanac, although I'm not a fan of such works. Filled with various anecdotes and side details from the shadows of the historical events, Basara skillfully presents the state of society, acts and madness of the mentioned through the eyes of other authors and their works, supported by draws, photos and other material evidence (all of it is available within the edition that I have, even blank pages which represent lost scrolls), leaving the reader to draw his own conclusions out of it all. If we take into consideration how much a bicycle mentioned in the book, it can be said that this is also a chronological line of it's development within the symbolic meaning (from the work of devil to the useful tool of spreading ideas on a larger scale and representation of symbolism that I could imagine Robert Langdon getting interested in it). Although I gave myself time for gradual reading from page to page, the book has left me with the notion like the person was writing notes from his mind and then just stopped, as if had felt he just reached the dead end. It definitely leaves a room for a reread in some future.

[Prerazmišljavanje - Katarina Kostić · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nekako se pd polovine izvukla do 5⭐.

Zabavna, suluda, knjiga koja piše čitaoca. Meni je preispisala (predrasuđeni) stav prema Basari.

[Юлия · Rating 4 out of 5]

В Таен списък на членовете на Евангелистките Велосипедисти , група Югоизток незнайно как и защо присъства и
Цола Драгойчева 😀

[Ed Erwin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't really work for me. I love bicycles and hate clocks, so I'd seem like a natural fit for stories of the Brotherhood. The melding of fact and fiction about a great conspiracy could be fun. But it somehow wasn't. I don't know whether it was due to translation, but the lost Sherlock Holmes story didn't sound the least bit like a Sherlock Holmes story. The parts supposedly written by Freud feel more like Jung. Was that intentional? Don't know; don't care.

I definitely won't be looking for the sequel.

[Marharyta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Знову дуже важко знайти книгу без русні в ній (тут теж неприємно багато). З приємного цитата: «Росіянина треба вбити двічі, а потім ще копнути».

[Bjorn · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is something inherently heretical about bicycles. A mode of transport that's powered by man alone, which looks impossible but that anyone can master, whose adherents buzz back and forth through cities with little care for rules since the big cities of Europe are built either for cars or mass transportation. The illusion of freedom and free will (free wheel?) that can end under the wheels of a bus at any second.

Anno Domini 1347, Monsignor Robert de Prevois, the Inquisitor of Paris, received news from the mouths of honorable citizens that master Enguerrand de Auxbris-Malvoisin, obsessed by the Unclean One, had left the saving grace of the Christian faith, turned to incantations and magic, and built a demonic device that he rode through the streets terrifying people.

The Cyclist Conspiracy is, in a lot of ways, a complete (or rather incomplete) mess; presented as fragments of writings about the sect The Evangelical Bicyclists of the Rose Cross, who supposedly have been lurking in the shadows of European thought (worldly or religious? Is there a difference when it comes to power?) since mediaeval times. They assign all sorts of symbolic meanings to the bicycles; the two wheels, the triangle in the middle, the crossbar that only men's bikes have, the fact that it looks like a cross from the POV of God... The Bicyclists pop up in Freud, they pop up in Sherlock Holmes, their members (including both Stalin, Milosevic, Bohumil Hrabal and Homer Simpson) have been seen in post-revolution St Petersburg and in monasteries. Their mission is to overtake time itself, to overthrow rationality, to build something, a new and final Tower of Babel, in the realm of dreams (which, again, is the traditional domain of both church and state - hence the need to get Freud on board). At least I think that's what Basara (the narrator) thinks he's found out in this novel.

...your muscles don't turn the pedals, your spirit does. And it would be better to see things like this: it is not you that is moving, but the road and the Earth are turning, and you are standing in place and keeping your balance.

By the 21st century, there are a lot of churches to commit heresy against, a lot of empires piled in palimpsests on top of each other, all "latently present the whole time" in the psychogeography of central Europe; Stalin and Kohl sitting next to Freud and Aquinas. (See also: Codrescu's Tzara and Lenin Play Chess.) Every act can be condoned by any and sometimes all of them, so every act is already done long before it happens. Any organisation against it - against order itself - will contain both dictators and artists, murderers and clowns, and at times it feels a bit like Basara is trying to have his cake and eat it too, especially during the more heavy-duty philosophical parts that make up the latter half of the novel (or "novel"). When one of the characters remarks "...he talked to me for a long time about Byzantium, bicycles, real and false eternity, and I remember that I was horribly bored..." I underline it. But the first half, and much of the second half as well, is just such an exhiliratingly insane and fun ride that I have to remind myself to keep my hands on the handlebars. Because, well, we're balancing on millennia of idea(l)s that can look pretty horriffic up close, and once you remember that it's easy to fall and hurt yourself.

But idols have a powerful weapon at hand - flattery. And as the Romans said, vulgus vult decipi. It is almost ridiculous, this human affinity for self-deception. And so the world is becoming an ever more beautified corpse; however, it is no longer enough for the streets to be clean; from the facades of buildings, enormous billboards authoritatively claim that everyone is happy, that everything is in order, and that it will stay that way forever. Ultimately, practicality has proven itself to be childish idealism; whoever longs for reality is becoming unreal, whoever longs for the surreal is becoming real.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is difficult to review because it's not so much a novel; in that the 'story' is a smattering of journal articles, poems, epistles, universal omniscient narration, historical documents, illustrations and biographies of the Little Brothers of the Evangelical Bicyclists of the Rose Cross (a nod to the Rosicrucian secret society, i believe). If the numerous form don't make it disjointed enough, the book is steeped in esoterica, Marxist politics, and classical European philosophy, notably that of Hegel.

While there are certainly moments of brilliance that recall both Borges and Pynchon, the text is so deliberately obfuscating that it's difficult to really sink your teeth into. Now, I'm cognizant the telling of a secret society that meets only in dreams requires something more than a conventional narrative, but I'd like to think it possible to imbue the novel with the experimental (such as it is) without sacrificing readability.

The crux of the story evokes Pynchon's Chums of Chance in Against the Day, an airborne society that functions as a super-universal omniscient narrative perspective, allowing Pynchon to transcend time and geography, and jettison conventional linear narrative for something much more fluid and integrated. Where the Chums of Chance--and Pynchon for that matter--were playful and imaginative, the Little Brothers are entrenched in the arcane, the recondite. Moreover, the telling of their story is wrapped in too many riddles to ultimately provide satisfaction.

[Nazarii Zanoz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Доволі цікава містифікація з непоганими провокативними думками й ідеями, певним стьобом на символізмом й доказом того, що інтелектуальний мозок може зліпити чудову теорію майже з будь-яких фактів. Одна із цитат-передбачень, котра особливо сподобалася стосувалася того, що від поклоніння образу Бога (іконам) люди перейдуть до іконізації та поклоніння власних зображень. Передбачення культу селфі в 1987 році - це гарно. Хоча сам Басара також жартує над передбаченнями в тексті). Важко було пробиратися через деякі частини, особливо щодо дискусії редакторів "Студента" та "Обріїв". Ну і важко було позбутися внутрішнього обурення щоразу, коли хтось із прибічників секти виправдовував Сталіна, хоча й, як розумію, це цілком ймовірно є формою стьобу над такими спробами виправдати й лягає в канву ідеології секти Євангелічних велосипедистів.

[Христо Блажев · Rating 4 out of 5]

Евангелски велосипедисти бдят над световната история: http://www.knigolandia.info/2009/12/b...

Светислав Басара и „Легенда за велосипедистите“ потапя читателя в тайните на мистериозна секта, която, въртейки педалите, направлява човешката история. Те са Ордена на „Малките братя“ - Евангелските велосипедисти от кръста на Розата.

Това е уникален по рода си Орден. Неговите последователи се събират насън, където вече починалите или още неродените велосипедисти съветват живите какво да правят, така че бъдещето направлява миналото.

[Goran Jankuloski · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pisanje gomile stranica maničnog buncanja ne znači da daješ novi uvid u ludilo. Bombardovanje nasumičnim činjenicama iz života istorijskih ličnosti ne znači da si povezao celokupnu istoriju u dobru priču. To što si to uradio 4 godine pred gradjanski rat te ne čini prorokom.

Odustao 72/323

[nethescurial]

DNF

This has all the ingredients of something I should enjoy - metafictionality, formal innovation and jumping from style to style, a synthesis between dreams and reality and science and religion - but as it is it's really not doing it for me. Everything feels like it's straining too hard in an obvious effort to be clever than it actually being clever, and so much of it veers into essayistic jargon about theoretical practices and ideas to the point where it lands as utterly incomprehensible for someone not in on whatever Basara is talking about here. I usually like that sort of thing but as opposed to the Pynchons and Ciscos of the world, who balance out that type of goofy theoretical writing with something that ties into their Big Ideas, a lot of this just feels like an in-joke I'm not getting. I'm sure much of this is a translation issue, so I'm not pinning all of the blame on Basara. But what I can pin direct blame on him for is that there's a lot of really odious misogyny in this that doesn't seem to be interrogated by the text at all and just reads further as Basara aping the early postmodernists [and of all the things to take away from the early powerhouses of the genre, the eye-rolling machismo and exclusion of women should absolutely not be one of them]. It's far from terrible, it's a fun concept and it has a lot of promise and the book is extremely well designed, but I can't help but think the ideas here would have actually benefitted from a more traditional narrative style, believe it or not. Maybe I'll return to this when I'm itching for this kind of thing, but I'm not right now.