The short story book “Ex-Yu: Stories” written by Croatian-Canadian author Josip Novakovich is available in Persian.
Novakovich’s first collection of short fiction has been translated by Elaheh Shamsnejad and published by Morvarid Publication, Mehr News Agency reported on its Persian web site.
The book’s title is a reminder of the former Republic of Yugoslavia in southeast Europe. After the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, Yugoslavia, like all other pro-Soviet communist states in Europe, was consigned to history from the ashes of which emerged six small republics, namely Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The 12-story collection, originally written in English, explores half-century of former Yugoslav history and showcases a unique mixture of harrowing subject matter with a dry humor.
The chapter “White Moustache” looks back to the Second World War and the prospect of being a young man in a war-torn country.
Novakovich skips ahead 40 years in the chapter “Acorns” and follows the progress of Ana, a Croatian-American who goes to Bosnia as a UN translator.
Real events loom large in the “Dutch Treat” story, which revolves around the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, when thousands of Bosnian Muslims supposedly under the protection of a Dutch-led UN contingent were killed by the Bosnian Serb army. Born in Daruvar, Croatia, Novakovich, 62, was a finalist for The Man Booker International Prize in 2013 and was anthologized in Best American Poetry, Pushcart Prize (three times), and O. Henry Prize Stories.
