The Bosnian war was the most devastating European conflict since World War 2. Hundreds of thousands were killed and millions displaced over its nearly four-year lifespan. The war also produced one of the most powerful portraits of modern warfare ever penned, Anthony Loyds seminal "My war gone by, I miss it so".
Pursuing a calling as a war correspondent, Anthony Loyd made his way to war torn Bosnia after a brief career in the British Army. In his first book his experiences all lay bare to create an intensely personal if not sometimes shocking document that frames the hardnosed brutality of modern conflicts with the authenticity of human frailty. First published in 2001 "My war gone by, I miss it so"' has been followed up by Loyds second book, "Another bloody love letter" in 2007 about his later experiences in the former Yugoslavia, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan and Iraq. He has most recently been working with the Guardian with which his most recent assignment took him to Syria. I was fortunate to catch up with Anthony Loyd in London whilst he was recovering and asked him some questions.
IBR: I had just ready about your narrow escape with death in Syria. Was that a wake up call or just a manageable risk?
People are injured and killed as part of war. In May 2014 it happened to me. I was shot twice. I spend my professional life talking to people who have been incarcerated, beaten or shot. Now I am one of them. The experience made me a member of a club of millions of ordinary people. I see it in this light, rather than as an especially unusual event.
IBR: You have spent your career watching men wage war. Are we doomed to repeat the cycle of violence, are we as a species unavoidably attracted to conflict?
Anthony Loyd: We are doomed to repeat the cycle. Killing is a sin. We all know it . Yet we do it again and again, en masse, couching war in the vernacular of justice or glory just to perpetuate conflict, safeguard our complicity and further our denial.
IBR: Generally speaking journalists have a longer exposure to conflict than those in military service, is it safe to conclude that the intensity is different?, more manageable?
Anthony Loyd: Journalists often make the mistake of comparing their experience to that of fighting men. There is no comparison. Combat and killing is profoundly different from just ‘being there’ to observe and report. Journalists also have more freedom of movement and expression, and shorter individual assignments than soldiers, allowing them more individual control in their exposure to conflict.
IBR: Having seen many conflicts over the years first hand, is there a recognisable point of no return, is it possible to see it coming?
Anthony Loyd: The final departure point to the start of a war is always marked by a sensation, rather than a specific event, statement, or troop build up. The air becomes electric in territory on the verge of conflict – as if a storm were about to break. You can feel the war coming even before the first shot is fired. And at that point, there is no going back. The reverse is true too: wars die suddenly. The malignant energy goes, and everyone suddenly stops fighting.
IBR: If there were one piece of advice you could give the newly elected government in Ukraine - what would it be?
Anthony Loyd: Your enemies are closer than your friends..
IBR: I read your book, 'My war gone by, I miss it so', many years ago and the chapter that still stays with me was the chapter on Chechnya, is it still the most intense conflict you have witnessed?
Anthony Loyd: The Syrian conflict matches Chechnya for its ferocity of violence , and sometimes exceeds it.
IBR: Was Chechnya one of the worlds most under reported conflicts? and if so why do you think it was?
Anthony Loyd: Readers like a sense of national stake in a story if it is to hold their interest. Chechnya was a long way away, in a Russian dominated zone where Western intervention was seen as neither possible nor desirable. It was also extremely dangerous to cover, as reporters became the target of abduction gangs. The combination limited reportage, but did not end it.
IBR: Listening to Stereo MC’s and getting drunk in a war zone, I have no doubt there are many more ironies you come across or partake in your line of work, do the ironies play apart in the fascination of conflict?
Anthony Loyd: Irony is an integral part of war, and symbolises the human contradictions that make us such an interesting race. I once saw a deaf mute hold up a dead canary in a cage that had been killed by the concussion from a rocket in Afghanistan. A single tear rolled down his cheek as he mourned the death of an animal whose song he could never hear. I was entranced.
IBR: I will assume that you have been back to Bosnia and Sarajevo in peace time. Do you feel you have a type of bond with the place? Perhaps in some ways it changed your life.
Anthony Loyd: It is over a decade since I was last in Bosnia. I did not return for the twentieth anniversary get-together for the Sarajevo press corps held to mark the occasion either, as I was in Syria at the time. Though Bosnia was the defining war experience of my life, and I have many memories, friendships and deep emotions linked to the place, I can only continue working in war after so long by compartmentalising conflicts, or else the overall emotional investment becomes too much. I am a monogamous war reporter, and intentionally sever emotional links with realms outside the immediate. If I had stopped covering wars and was doing something else, then I am sure I would think about Bosnia more often. Instead, I regard the place in a similar way to that with which I recall a first love: it meant a lot to me. Much still remains. But I don’t need to go back there.
IBR: Where are you now and what are you working on?
Anthony Loyd: I am in a train on the way home to my house in the West Country after a night boozing with an old war friend in London. It was an unofficial element to my recovery programme, as I am working on getting fit again after being shot so that I can be ready for more assignments at the end of the summer. Getting shot stirred the muses. I have a lot of ideas and am keen to write, once this hangover has cleared…
IBR: Being a professional writer, what is your working day like? do you have a disciplined schedule or are you less rigid?
Anthony Loyd: I am a very ill-disciplined. No two days are the same. I find any excuse not to sit at my desk and write. In order to do so I have create a mental zone first, which usually involves getting fit. As soon as I start getting obsessive about physical exercise, then I can get obsessive about writing. My default state – vacant dreaminess – is not helpful.
IBR: Your books are very personal journey’s and written in a very different style than your reporting, are they two very different parts of you or can you switch between the two styles natural and easily?
Anthony Loyd: No. It is a really antagonistic relationship, without any equilibrium. Journalism impinges on longer writing forms. I am either getting ready for an assignment, or distracted by just having come back from one. The alternative, taking six month sabbaticals to write books, is not practical either. I quite enjoy this unsettled state, though. The lack of rhythm makes for an exciting life.
Publications:
Anthony Loyd (1 February 2001). 'My War Gone By, I Miss It So'.
Penguin (Non-Classics). ISBN 0-14-029854-1
Anthony Loyd (8 March 2007). 'Another Bloody Love Letter'.
Headline Review. ISBN 0-7553-1479-4
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