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Product Description
For the last six years, the playwright and novelist Borivoj Radakovic has invited leading British writers to come to Croatia, and more recently to Serbia, and perform to huge audiences alongside the very best authors from the countries that make up the former Yugoslavia. The Festival of Alternative Culture ('FAK'; both a festival and a network of new writers and publishers) is legendary in Croatia and beyond, and now Croatian Nights celebrates the networks it has created. Containing 18 new short stories set in Croatia, this anthology features nine UK authors and nine writers from the former Yugoslavia, most of whom appear in English translation for the first time. As Croatia becomes an increasingly popular holiday destination, and thoughts turn from war coverage and the Hague to EU enlargement, these stories capture the true spirit of this extraordinary area, and are a must-read for anyone who loves contemporary fiction. With contributors: Zoran Feric, Vladimir Arsenijevic, Borivoj Radakovic, Ben Richards, Anna Davis, Toby Litt, Niall Griffiths, John Williams, Nicholas Blincoe, JELENA CARIJA, SALENA 'SALIVA' GODDEN, MILJENKO JERGOVIC, GORDAN NUHANOVIC, EDO POPOVIC, ZORICA RADAKOVIC, MATT THORNE, GORAN TRIBUSON, TONY WHITE
About the Author
Borivoj Radakovic's published fiction includes the novel Splendour of the Epoch; two collections of short stories, No, this is not me; yes, this is not me and Porno. He has also written a number of plays, including Welcome to the Blue Hell, and What Now? Tony White's most recent novel is the critically acclaimed Foxy-T (Faber and Faber), he is literary editor of The Idler and also edited the Britpulp! anthology. Matt Thorne is the author of five novels and co-editor of All Hail The New Puritans.
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God forbid you dream Ivan Zaviin's dream, people used to say even then. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
God forbid you dream Ivan Zaviin's dream, people used to say even then. Read the first page
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Decent Mixed Bag Lacking a True Sense of Place,
By
This review is from: Croatian Nights: A Festival of Alternative Literature (Paperback)
I picked this anthology up because I've enjoyed the work of several of the British contributors (especially Ben Richards, Tony White, and John Williams) and also because I spent a few weeks in Croatia on my honeymoon, traveling up the Dalmatian coast. Since that trip, I've been curious as to what kind of fiction is coming out of the new Croatia, so this collection of "alternative literature" written during 2003-2004 seemed to fit the bill. The slim, 200 page book contains 19 stories contributed by nine British and nine Croatian writers (most of whom had not previously had any work translated into English).
The literary festival which gave birth to this collaboration is notably anti-nationalist in tone, and thus the stories are generally dark slices of life that steer clear of any explicit political or historical material. While this is an admirable separation of art and politics, it also has the effect of somewhat diluting the stories' setting. Only Niall Griffiths and Ben Richard's stories give the reader any true sense of place. In general, the Croatian stories tend to be rather domestic affairs, about relationships, family, and sex. They're not bad, but they feel like they could have come out of almost any urban writer's workshop in the world. Without broader cultural knowledge or context from the reader, there's little that makes them notably "Croatian" -- which is perhaps the point. The British stories tend to skew toward the writer-as-tourist variety, as (perhaps wisely) they tend to provide the perspective of the Englishperson just passing through. Protagonists include former Education Minister, has-been punk musician, lone traveler, middle-class tourist couple, single father with son, female writer, nondescript tourist, and two couples traveling together. While these are all generally well-written vignettes, the protagonists' experiences are again not particularly specific to Croatia. And it's somewhat disappointing that almost all of the stories are set in Zagreb (Niall Griffiths' story "Split" is set in the city of the same name). Overall, it's a decent middle-of-the-road collection with no terrible stories, but few memorable ones either. Toby Litt's "The Tourist" is a Gogolesque piece notable for its contrast in tone to the rest of the anthology. John Williams brings his musical perspective to bear in "The Ballad of Mott the Hoople", which captures the emptiness of being on tour well after one's glory years. Jelena Carija's "Junk Food Kills, Doesn't It?" is a scary, and yet empowering, story of a confrontation between a lout and two women. Goran Tribuson's "Ultimate Fighting" is a very funny piece about a hapless returnee's attempt to start an mixed martial arts club. Those interested in modern Croatian literature can check out the four books available in English from contributors to this anthology: Vladimir Arsenijevic's "In the Hold", Miljenko Jergovic's "Sarajevo Marlboro", Gordan Nuhanovic's "Survival League", and Edo Popovic's "Zagreb, Exit South".
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
2.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews) 5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Decent Mixed Bag Lacking a True Sense of Place,
By A. Ross - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Croatian Nights: A Festival of Alternative Literature (Paperback)
I picked this anthology up because I've enjoyed the work of several of the British contributors (especially Ben Richards, Tony White, and John Williams) and also because I spent a few weeks in Croatia on my honeymoon, traveling up the Dalmatian coast. Since that trip, I've been curious as to what kind of fiction is coming out of the new Croatia, so this collection of "alternative literature" written during 2003-2004 seemed to fit the bill. The slim, 200 page book contains 19 stories contributed by nine British and nine Croatian writers (most of whom had not previously had any work translated into English).
The literary festival which gave birth to this collaboration is notably anti-nationalist in tone, and thus the stories are generally dark slices of life that steer clear of any explicit political or historical material. While this is an admirable separation of art and politics, it also has the effect of somewhat diluting the stories' setting. Only Niall Griffiths and Ben Richard's stories give the reader any true sense of place. In general, the Croatian stories tend to be rather domestic affairs, about relationships, family, and sex. They're not bad, but they feel like they could have come out of almost any urban writer's workshop in the world. Without broader cultural knowledge or context from the reader, there's little that makes them notably "Croatian" -- which is perhaps the point. The British stories tend to skew toward the writer-as-tourist variety, as (perhaps wisely) they tend to provide the perspective of the Englishperson just passing through. Protagonists include former Education Minister, has-been punk musician, lone traveler, middle-class tourist couple, single father with son, female writer, nondescript tourist, and two couples traveling together. While these are all generally well-written vignettes, the protagonists' experiences are again not particularly specific to Croatia. And it's somewhat disappointing that almost all of the stories are set in Zagreb (Niall Griffiths' story "Split" is set in the city of the same name). Overall, it's a decent middle-of-the-road collection with no terrible stories, but few memorable ones either. Toby Litt's "The Tourist" is a Gogolesque piece notable for its contrast in tone to the rest of the anthology. John Williams brings his musical perspective to bear in "The Ballad of Mott the Hoople", which captures the emptiness of being on tour well after one's glory years. Jelena Carija's "Junk Food Kills, Doesn't It?" is a scary, and yet empowering, story of a confrontation between a lout and two women. Goran Tribuson's "Ultimate Fighting" is a very funny piece about a hapless returnee's attempt to start an mixed martial arts club. Those interested in modern Croatian literature can check out the four books available in English from contributors to this anthology: Vladimir Arsenijevic's "In the Hold", Miljenko Jergovic's "Sarajevo Marlboro", Gordan Nuhanovic's "Survival League", and Edo Popovic's "Zagreb, Exit South". 2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Stopped short,
By Andrew Fairley - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Croatian Nights: A Festival of Alternative Literature (Paperback)
I bought this book because my one of my favorite authors, Niall Griffiths, wrote one of the short stories in this collection. He's written some really funny/sick sick stories in the past, but this was one worth leaving unpublished.
Most of the stories in this book felt like they were 100 page stories cropped to 10. There were also no paradigm shifts in any of the stories that can make them so much fun. The highlight (if it can be called that) was a story about someone setting up an MMA (mixed martial arts) organization in Croatia. The story wasn't spectacular, but it's the first fictional story I've read or heard about that involved MMA. |
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