Slav Lit: Search and Destroy

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Apart from Russians, Poles and Czechs I don't know what I'm doing w/this corner of Europe.

xyzzzz__, Friday, 8 June 2018 12:11 (seven years ago)

Prompted by this: https://amp.theguardian.com/books/2018/jun/06/dasa-drndic-unflinching-croatian-novelist-dies-aged-71

I have read Dubravka Ugresic's The Ministry of Pain and that was quite good at times.

xyzzzz__, Friday, 8 June 2018 12:13 (seven years ago)

Feel like I should have more ideas but excluding the countries you've already mentioned the only person I can think of for a vehement SEARCH is Milorad Pavić (Serbian).

emil.y, Friday, 8 June 2018 12:18 (seven years ago)

The list (according to wiki):

Ukrainians
Serbs
Bulgarians
Belarusians
Croats
Slovaks
Bosniaks
Slovenes
Macedonians
Montenegrins

xyzzzz__, Friday, 8 June 2018 12:29 (seven years ago)

Thanks though, I'll look into Pavić.

In Sergio Pitol's great book The Magician of Vienna, he at one points talks about his discovery of Slav literature and says he could list about two pages worth of authors but he won't and I'm like nooo..

xyzzzz__, Friday, 8 June 2018 12:37 (seven years ago)

four months pass...

an ok rev of Ivo Andric's last novel:

https://www.asymptotejournal.com/criticism/ivo-andric-omer-pasha-latas-marshal-to-the-sultan/

And I was looking at Michael Henry Heim's page on wiki, he might be a good guide: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Henry_Heim

xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 23 October 2018 21:42 (six years ago)

Michael Henry Heim translated a ridiculous amount of stuff from a ridiculous number of languages. I wish my brain worked like that.
Plus he looked like James Bond's Jaws with a beard:
http://masontattersall.org/translation/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/heim.gif

Mince Pramthwart (James Morrison), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 23:35 (six years ago)

http://masontattersall.org/translation/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/heim.gif

Mince Pramthwart (James Morrison), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 23:36 (six years ago)

A class act all the way!

xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 24 October 2018 06:01 (six years ago)

https://bookriot.com/2018/10/30/slavic-literature/

Poor-ish piece, doesn't build any enthusiasm - there is a theme of a connection to the East and Islam through some of these books. Maybe I could thread something around this.

xyzzzz__, Thursday, 1 November 2018 17:04 (six years ago)

six months pass...

https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2019/06/06/dasa-drndic-dismembered/

xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 21 May 2019 21:24 (six years ago)

seven months pass...

The book that I think about the most is The Book of Blam. It’s about the Holocaust in Serbia, but also impunity, identity, cruelty, atrocity, loyalty, guilt. There are so many facets to it. I still get emotional recalling scenes from it. I really can’t recommend it highly enough. pic.twitter.com/V78Jjee0q5

— Steve Holt (@SteveHolt3) January 1, 2020

xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 1 January 2020 20:42 (five years ago)


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