Biography & Bibliography
Biography
Predrag Finci (Sarajevo, 1946) completed Gymnasium, Drama Studio and
Philosophy at the University of Sarajevo, and a two year Counselling
Course in London.
He also studied at the University of Paris X (under Mikele Dufrenne)
and in Freiburg (under Werner Marx). He completed his MA in 1977
and PhD in Philosophy in 1981.
Before finishing his studies in Philosophy, he pursued an acting
career, and after that he was involved in academic work.
Finci lectured at the Department of Philosophy and Sociology
(University of Sarajevo) and gained his Professorship in Aesthetics.
Predrag Finci is a member-founder of Bosnian P.E.N.
He now lives in London and works as a free-lance writer and research fellow at UCL.
Bibliography
Epistolary Discourse (1980)
A collection of essays on letter correspondence and its significance. Author discussed different types of letters (love letters, political letters, philosophical letters�) in such authors as Plato, Goethe, Flaubert, Van Gogh, Rilke, Kafka and others.
Art and the Experience of Existence (1986)
Essays on the position of the arts in work of Nietzsche, Unamuno, Kierkeggard, Merlau-Ponty, Camus, Sartre, G. Marcel, Heidegger, as well as Hegel and Marx, Adorno and Marcuse.
The Origin of Question (1987)
The main topic of the treaty is why we ask questions. And what possible logic and philosophy of question is.
On Some Secondary Matters (1990)
The book is a collection of 21 short essays on marginal issues in aesthetics, like signature of the author, studio, applause, imprimatur, frame of picture etc.
Direct to a Detour (2004)
What is pornography and its �resemblance� to the arts? What is gambling as a metaphor? Boozing as a real event and poetic ecstasy � those are the main issues of this book.
A Sentimental Introduction into Aesthetics (1999, 2004)
An introduction into aesthetics narrated through stories about well-known and anonymous Bosnian artists with an epilogue which is an essay on the idea of Aesthetics.
Poetosophic essays (2004)
Link between private biography and philosophising (Wittgenstein), problem of beginning in philosophy (Hegel, Husserl, Derrida) and the notion of subjectivity (Jaspers, Buber, Freud, Foucault) are three major topics of the book. Finci narrates his ideas in poetosophic way, interweaving reflection and sensitivity in a form of a text.
The Arts of the Destroyed (Aesthetics, War and the Holocaust) (2005)
In the first chapter author discusses different approaches to the Holocaust, from "Unique" to "Never Happened". The second chapter (Personal Dossier) comprises four parts: Jewish Question or about Identity, Thinking in the (Bosnian) War, The Work of Art in the Age of War Destruction and Refugee Blues. In the third chapter Finci discusses the Nazi Art, Entartete Kunst and the flight of artists and intellectuals from Nazi Germany. In the fourth chapter author speaks about aporia of expressing the Holocaust, about Heidegger's silence and Adorno's dictum. In the fifth Finci describes artistic endeavours of artists in the Holocaust, oeuvres of survivors, some movies which deal with the "crime against humanity" (Schindller's List, Shoah, La vita e bella�) and finally, author discusses possibilities and limitations of any artistic expression of the Holocaust and destruction. Finci's book is an attempt to conceptualise and explain the "meaning" of destruction and violence, and the nature of the holocaust from an aesthetics point of view.
The Nature of Art (2006)
In the first chapter the author, through a series of notes, discusses the manifold history of art, in the second he talks about the birth of the artist and the �death of the author�, in the third about the role of sponsor and the market in the creation and promotion of the piece of art, in the fourth about the relevance of the patron�s taste in the assessment of the work, in the fifth about the nature of the work of art, its origin and importance, to finish with a discussion on the creation of film in the sixth chapter.
The Text on Exile (2007)
The Text on Exile is a combination of essays and stories, an intertextual
narrative of a sort, dealing with fear in the time of war, exile and adopting a
new language, the nature of text and various fates of emigrants, memories and
return to homeland, hope and happiness...Mersad Berber is the author of the
illustrations in The Text on Exile.