Category: best european fiction 2010

Best European Fiction 2010 Bosnia

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best european fiction 2010

Now it has been a while and I really should get through the rest of the stories and novel snippets ,especially as the 2011 one is due in a few weeks ,so have got rest of this book cleared before starting this

TITLE – AT THE SARAJEVO MARKET BY IGOR STIKS

This short story focuses on a couple going round the market during the war in Bosnia ,we see old books being sold for a bargain of 1 Deutschmarks a piece rare german translation ,Shakespeare ,then they find a watch and tell the story of the previous owners in the end leaving the market empty-handed .The writer was nominated for the Impac in 2006 for the translation in to english of his novel A castle in Romagna ,he currently lives in Edinburgh ,his second novel won the Croatian book of the year .

Best european fiction 2010 belgian(french)

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Jean Philippe Toussaint

Zidane’s melancholy -Jean-Philippe Tousaint ,

best european fiction 2010

This story was 5 pages long and concerns moments in football mainly the infamous headbutt from zindine zidane  to a italian player in the world cup ,Touisaint also points out hurst did it didn’t it ball over line in 1966 final ,he says zindine had a black moment that could stayed in the head but didn’t and became a actual act .Tousaint is 53 a prose writer and has a number of books published by dalkey archive he has also made a number of films he has also taken books of photographs .

best european fiction 2010 -belgium (dutch)

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Peter Terrin

Peter Terrin -from the novel – the murderer -born in 1968 Peter is considered one of the leading voices of his generation of Flemish writers often compared to Kafka and Wilfred Frederick Hermans and Albert Camus and has twice been nominated for the Belgian book prize ako . this short piece follows Ferdinand in a unnamed place and unnamed time he talks about his neighbours and why he’d murder them as curfews are in force he sneaks about in the shadows . This story remind me of Kafka a bit as your dropped in nowhere and don’t really know whats going on ,it also reminded me of the beligan film man bites dog there is a similar coldness in Ferdinand to the main character in man bites dog .There is only this it appears available in english at moment .I hope if this an example of his writing it is translated soon in to english .

Best european fiction 2010 -2

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best european fiction 2010

The second story in best european fiction is from Austria ,from an essay collection entitled while sleeping (Im schlaf ) by Antonio Fian .Antonio Fian is an essayist and playwriter ,who is well-known in his native Austria for his dramolettes ,small dramas on current events that are printed in the ,magazine falter (moth),der standard and have been collected together in to four vols .the excerpt in best european fiction from the book is a number of short pieces varying in length from  half page to a full-page .they are about a wide range of subjects ,such as an adult themed Barbie seen in a shop to a trip to Tokyo after seeing it on tv and an encounter with Loudon Wainwright ,when Antonio want to translate his lyrics in to Viennese dialect .the piece are informative ,cleverly written and follow a style of writing similar to Staisuk,Bernhard and Sebald in a way .there appears to be none of Fian’s works available in english ,Lets hope some come available soon .

Antonio Fian

best european fiction 2010 1

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best european fiction 2010

This is dalkey archives collection of short stories from all round europe ,it was edited by american Bosnian Aleksandar Hemon .he was given about four or five stories from each country and decide to choose one from each country  ending up in 35 stories from 30 countries ,as some countries have two languages and different parts like the uk .i ve decide to write short reviews for each story over the next few months to give this wonderful project its due .

  • 1. Albania -(extract from) The country where no one ever dies by Ornela Vorpsi 
ornela vorpsi
  • This story is about the experience of growing up as a young women and girl in Albania ,how important being a virgin is how men perceive women in Albania  ,how well looked after she was when she was sick and how she want to be sick again to have strawberry jam .the story is only 8 pages but gives a brief glimpse into a relatively unknown country .My personal experience with Albania was a summer in the early nineties working alongside a Kosovo Albanian in a factory in Germany a wonderful guy who had worked in tv in his own country ,he ended up in germany as he was intermidatted by the mainly Serbian police in Kosovo .I have read some Ismail Kadare as well who like Vorpsi writes in another language other than Albanian .

 have you read any books from Albania ?