Eli Gilic

Thanks for taking part in my blog. I'd like to start off by finding out a little more about you.

Thank you for having me here. And I must say that I love your blog, the flowers and butterflies make me feel at home. ☺ I am an author and literary translator from Serbia. Four years ago, I moved from the capital to a house in the woods with my dog. In the meanwhile, I’ve taken two more dogs from the street and a rabid parrot, intent on making this nature haven a little zoo. That was the best decision in my life. Growing your own food, tending the garden and lawn, planting flowers, pruning, listening to birds, running away from insects... a life in nature really gets the creative juices flowing.

Have you always wanted to be a writer?

I decided to become a writer in second grade, but life got in the way. Like many others, I was always leaving it for tomorrow, for some better times. In 2012, I lost my dad and then my mom eight months later. That shock made me finally realize that I won’t live forever and that I finally have to start writing or just give up. So, I started writing.

Is there one particular person who inspired you to write?

I know this is an awful thing to say, but I was inspired by all the authors whose works I hated. Good writers always inspire respect, small crushes even, and a fear that I have no business writing since I will never be able to hold a candle to my idols. Bad writers, on the other hand, inspire me, making me think: If they made it, then I will too.

Why do you think books are important?

It is probably a cliche, but I truly believe books make us better. In childhood, sad stories often make us cry, but they teach us empathy. Do you remember Andersen’s The Little Fir Tree and The Little Match Girl? I cried my eyes out! The Giving Tree by Silverstein, The White Fang and The Call of the Wild by London, to name a few, are also great to make young readers discover the joys of living in another world while engrossed in a book and I am sure such books make them more empathic.

Who is your favourite author/ which is your favourite book? Why?

Definitely Fyodor Dostoevsky. His style, his plots, the passions of his misfortunate characters, the raw strong emotions in his books give me goosebumps. He was my mother’s favourite author, and I decided to see why when I was sixteen. In the beginning, I thought: God, this is so slow and boring! But then things started happening and I was hooked. I love all his books, but maybe The Idiot is number one on my list. It has all the elements of Dostoevsky’s other works, but also a fine irony which is hard to find anywhere else. And, of course, how could a girl not have a crush on Prince Myshkin?

What sort of music do you like to listen to? Who is your favourite singer/ band?

My playlist is chaotic. Jazz, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, The Cult, The Ramones, Dandy Warhols, Cigarettes After Sex, War on Drugs, Arctic Monkeys, Arcade Fire... I can’t single out any artist, it would be unfair.

Who do you admire most in the world? Why?

All the “little people” who do something good for others without the need to post it on Instagram. Good-doers who think only about helping other people, animals, or nature without any self-interest.

If you had the opportunity to change one thing what would it be?

Turn the world into a version from Lennon’s song Imagine. I know, I am a hopeless dreamer.

If you could choose a superpower what would it be?

I don’t know what I would have said if you asked me that question last year. But now I would definitely choose the superpower to eliminate all diseases and viruses on the planet.

You have a Saturday night free. No kids or work to worry about (post lockdown) what would be the perfect way to spend it?

I would like to get together with all my friends who I miss very much because of the preventive measures, go to a jazz gig, drink a few beers, chat, and laugh the night away.

Tell us all about your book.

Slaves to Desire isn’t the usual erotica. I wanted to show that erotica can be a “serious” genre. That’s why Anna Karenina muses about the meaning of life only when she finds herself in hell; Hamlet and Ophelia escape Shakespeare’s scroll to find out is free will an illusion; Rasputin is very disappointed during one of his wild orgies; Baudelaire’s muse, Jeanne Duval, let’s us know how a kept woman feels; Van Gogh is torn between the desire for freedom and sadness due to loneliness; Dostoevsky and Polina Suslova show how a relationship between two headstrong partners looks like; George Sand reveals the problems a woman encounters when the love of her life is ill... Some stories are pretty explicit since their characters demanded that style, others are poetic. And I tried to portray the background of all historical figures as accurately as possible.

What was your inspiration for your book?

As a feminist, I was very angry because the girls in most erotica books were portrayed as stupid little beings who fell in love with the guy’s muscular bodies and sexual skills even though said guys showed all the big red flags. I wanted to write about women who don’t surrender their will to their partners. Sure, they can be submissive in the bedroom if that turns them on, but they are equals in the living room and all the other places. I wanted to write the kind of erotica I would like to read: deep and sometimes dark stuff that will not only arouse me but make me think about relationships and life in general as well.

Which of your characters do you like most? Why?

I am torn between Vincent van Gogh and Salvador Dali. Vincent’s gentle soul is something I can relate to and the biggest compliment I have ever got was from a male reader who said that he had imagined Van Gogh precisely as I have portrayed him. That story is very special to me. Dali’s almost lunatic suffering, on the other hand, drained me. I was depressed for days after completing that story which has torn a piece of my soul. Yet, I love it very much, the weakness toward tragedy is timeless ‒ would Romeo and Juliet be special if they weren’t star-crossed lovers?

What motivates your main character/ characters?

Joyce is a bundle of nerves while getting ready for his first date with Nora; Dostoevsky is trying to settle his mind in his final hours; Romeo is grieving the death of desire; Jeanne Duval longs to be viewed as a human being instead of a divine muse; Artaud and Maria Izquierdo are the only couple in my book who weren’t lovers in real life and I imagined them as tragic figures, revealing the true motive for her most famous painting; George Sand is yearning and grieving; Lorca is facing the firing squad and his life is passing before his eyes before death...