Filio is Not at Home - FSK - forum slovanskih kultur

Filio is Not at Home

Filio ni doma

Slovenia

Berta Bojetu Boeta

It’s evening. I’ll lie down. I like my bed and the pillow I brought with me from home. I don’t even know the direction I came from. I found myself here and I have to stay. I’m almost fifty and it doesn’t matter where I’m growing old. Alone or with somebody. I’ve got the women; they won’t leave all at once.

Filio Is Not at Home (1990), Berta Bojetu Boeta’s central work, is an allegorical dystopia set on an unnamed and timeless island, where a closed totalitarian social order controls people through violence, fear, and systematic oppression. The law of strict order punishes everything unpredictable and irrational. Through the stories of Helena Brass, her granddaughter Filio, and Uri, the novel explores themes of identity, freedom, power, violence, and the position of women. The women trapped in this cruel and hopeless world dream of becoming birds and flying away from the island – a symbol of their longing for freedom and dignity. Despite the brutality and despair, the narrative preserves faith in the strength of the human spirit and courage.

Berta Bojetu Boeta (1946–1997) was a Slovenian poet, novelist, and actress, widely regarded as one of the most original voices in contemporary Slovenian literature. After studying Slavic languages and literature, she graduated in acting from the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television in Ljubljana. She spent fifteen years performing at the Ljubljana Puppet Theatre and was one of the founders of the »Koreodrama« dance theatre. She began her literary career with the poetry collections Žabon (1979) and Words from the House of Karlstein (Besede iz hiše Karlstein, 1988), followed by the novels Filio Is Not at Home (Filio ni doma, 1990) and Bird House (Ptičja hiša, 1995). For the latter, she received the 1996 Kresnik Award for the best Slovenian novel of the year. Her writing is distinguished by its rich symbolism, allegorical style, and profound exploration of freedom, identity, violence, and the position of women. She published in Slovenia and abroad and was a member of the Slovenian Writers' Association and the Slovenian PEN Centre.