Asja Bakić – författare

The eleven stories in Sweetlust interweave feminist critique, intertextuality, and science fiction tropes in an irreverent portrait of our past, present, and future.

In a dystopian world with no men, women are “rehabilitated” at an erotic amusement park. Climate change has caused massive flooding and warming in the Balkans, where one programmer builds a time machine. And a devious reimagining of The Sorrows of Young Werther refocuses to center a sexually adventurous Charlotte.

Asja Bakić deploys the speculative and weird to playfully interrogate conversations around artificial intelligence, gender fluidity, and environmental degradation. As she did in her acclaimed debut Mars, Bakić once again upends her characters’ convictions and identities—and infuses each disorienting universe with sly humor and off-kilter eroticism. Visceral and otherworldly, Sweetlust takes apart human desire and fragility, repeatedly framing pleasure as both inviting and perilous.

A debut story collection of darkly humorous, feminist speculative fiction from the Balkans.

The eleven stories in Sweetlust interweave feminist critique, intertextuality, and science fiction tropes in an irreverent portrait of our past, present, and future.

In a dystopian world with no men, women are “rehabilitated” at an erotic amusement park. Climate change has caused massive flooding and warming in the Balkans, where one programmer builds a time machine. And a devious reimagining of The Sorrows of Young Werther refocuses to center a sexually adventurous Charlotte.

Asja Bakić deploys the speculative and weird to playfully interrogate conversations around artificial intelligence, gender fluidity, and environmental degradation. Once again Bakić upends her characters’ convictions and identities—as she did in her acclaimed debut Mars—and infuses each disorienting universe with sly humor and off-kilter eroticism. Both visceral and otherworldly, Sweetlust takes apart human desire and fragility, repeatedly framing pleasure as both inviting and perilous.

Hrvatska je zemlja u kojoj su kulturne polemike sve rjeđa pojava. No spisateljica Asja Bakić u knjizi eseja Dođi, sjest ću ti na lice svejedno britko i bez autocenzure komentira aktualne društvene događaje. Žestoko se zalažući za slobodu govora, autorica se obračunava sa svim oblicima diskriminacije, osobito onima koji se tiču rodne neravnopravnosti i transfobije. Krećući od feminizma kao široko shvaćenog humanističkog projekta, autorica kritizira propast socijalno uređene države, protuustavne napade na zdravlje žena te na javno zdravstvo općenito. Ovim polemičkim tekstovima ona strastveno brani ateističke i humanističke vrijednosti koje su, zajedno sa slobodom izražavanja i kulturom dijaloga, sve više na marginama naše svakodnevice. Eseji Asje Bakić zazivaju ideju zajedništva te propagiraju empatiju prema ljudima s kojima javni prostor svakodnevno dijelimo. Spisateljica pritom ne štedi one društvene pojave koje narušavaju zajedništvo, ne štedi pojedince i grupe koji šire govor mržnje. Naprotiv, imenuje ih i javno proziva. Piše iz eksplicitno feminističke perspektive koja čak ni u 21. stoljeću u Hrvatskoj nije dobrodošla iako nam je, s obzirom na nasilje nad ženama, nejednakost u plaćama i brojne druge nepravde prema ženama u društvu, još uvijek itekako potrebna. Bez dlake na jeziku, Asja Bakić se u knjizi Dođi, sjest ću ti na lice hvata ukoštac s temama koje ostatak zajednice najčešće izbjegava.