Combustions - Srdi¿, Sr¿an

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Résumé :
Sr?an Srdi?'s collection of short stories, Combustions, establishes this author's position as one of the best prose writers in Serbia and across the region. This book consists of nine stories in which the author brings the reader face to face with the seamy side of everyday life, where, somewhere in the province, hopelessness and despair of the endless Balkan transition meet one another in the most radical way. Devoid of illusions of social engagement and narrative tricks, Srdi? linguistically demolishes the present and its numerous platitudes, either liberal or conservative, with which we have been overwhelmed for years, to the extent that we can no longer discern the depth of the twilight zone in which we live. Srdi?'s stories are linguistically flawless, authentic and emblematically recognizable. The ironic distance that Srdi? uses to talk about his characters, which are often socially marginalized and in disproportion to self-perception, combined with exquisite attention to detail, associativity and a number of intertextual references, makes this collection of short stories a genuine masterpiece, which uncompromisingly brings into light the bizarre quality of contemporary life.

Biographie:
Sr?an Srdi? was born in Kikinda in 1977. He graduated from the Department of World Literature and Theory of Literature of the Faculty of Philology, University of Belgrade, where he also completed his doctoral thesis. He currently works at Du?an Vasiljev high school and as a coordinator of the North Banat District Centre for Talents, which bears the same name. He voluntarily edits part of the literary programme for the Public Library Jovan Popovi? in Kikinda, where he also founded a creative reading workshop. Together with Vladimir Arseni?, he leads a creative writing workshop in Belgrade. Srdi? also established the Partizanska knjiga publishing house. His literary work includes the novels Mrtvo polje (The Dead Field) (2010), Satori (2013), Srebrna magla pada (The Silver Mist Falls) (2017)...

Sommaire:
Sr?an Srdi?'s collection of short stories, Combustions, establishes this author's position as one of the best prose writers in Serbia and across the region. This book consists of nine stories in which the author brings the reader face to face with the seamy side of everyday life, where, somewhere in the province, hopelessness and despair of the endless Balkan transition meet one another in the most radical way. Devoid of illusions of social engagement and narrative tricks, Srdi? linguistically demolishes the present and its numerous platitudes, either liberal or conservative, with which we have been overwhelmed for years, to the extent that we can no longer discern the depth of the twilight zone in which we live. Srdi?'s stories are linguistically flawless, authentic and emblematically recognizable. The ironic distance that Srdi? uses to talk about his characters, which are often socially marginalized and in disproportion to self-perception, combined with exquisite attention to detail, associativity and a number of intertextual references, makes this collection of short stories a genuine masterpiece, which uncompromisingly brings into light the bizarre quality of contemporary life....