Fox, Dubravka Ugresic, Open Letter Books, 2018, 308 pp (translated from the Croatian by David Williams and Ellen Elias-Bursac)
This was my translated literature pick in November. For the third time in one month I found myself reading auto-biographical fiction. The first person narrator in Fox is, I am quite sure, Dubravka Ugresic herself. This is an author I have long wanted to read, who came onto my radar through various literary sites where I lurk as she began to receive acclaim a few years ago due to seven of her works being translated into English.
The author has lived in self-imposed exile from Croatia ever since the breakup of Yugoslavia. The result of her criticisms of nationalism there left her branded as a traitor.
Fox is thus biographical, following the life of an author living in exile in the Netherlands and including sections about writing process, attending literary conventions and speaking engagements, and returning for a heartrending episode to her Croatian home town. She uses the mythic figure of the fox as trickster to great effect throughout the novel, making the case for authors who travel across cultures. The through line asks the illusive question, "How do stories come to be written?"
Though I felt somewhat adrift in the long first chapter, A Story about How Stories Come to Be Written, I discovered as I read further that it was a brilliant set up for the rest of the book. I grew accustomed to her sly humor. Most of all, I reveled in the ways she pans the entire international publishing world. She is so bold I worried she might be accused of being a traitor to her own profession!
Currently I am making the progress of a snail through Rebecca West's Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, as that author travels through Yugoslavia in 1938. Her travels begin in Croatia and she relates the history and mixture of cultures there: Roman Empire, Slavic, Austro-Hungarian and Turkish. Reading Fox, I felt I had the long and troubled background to Dubravka Ugresic's current concerns. It was one of those delightful events of synchronicity that happen to readers.
This sounds like a good one but I'm always so nervous with translated novels because I read a few years ago and they were so badly translated that I was so dang confused!
ReplyDeleteOh my, it took me years to figure this out. Mostly I decided that there are infinite ways to tell a story and I was used to only a few ways that we do it here. So yes, confusion is part of the process and it may not work for everyone. Have you ever read the French author Virginie Despentes? Try Apocalypse Baby: https://keepthewisdom.blogspot.com/search?q=apocalypse+baby
DeleteI'm now checking to see if I can get Apocalypse Baby!
DeleteI hope you can!
Deletethis sounds compelling; i like translated books: different pov's, usually... i tried the first couple of chapters of Black Lamb book but her writing style was offensive so i quit... she just sounded like an upperclass English lady talking to the peasants... maybe i'm too sensitive...
ReplyDeleteR W does start out sounding that way but she changes as her journey continues. In fact, she was not upperclass but I wonder if she took on that tone to give herself more importance or gravitas in the eyes of the critics. I am amazed by her grasp of the history of the area.
Deletestuff i didn't know if i hadn't read your post! tx... i'll give it another try... sometime...
Deleteyes to synchronicity! I mentioned one in my review of Olga's Egg. This time, it's sync between reading and real life. I read a page talking about the Dresden Green vaults (which, ashamed to say, I had never heard before), and then I looked at my twitter newsfeed, and there had been a theft in it the day before!! Creepy actually
ReplyDeleteOh, I agree sometimes the synchronicity can be creepy.
DeleteFully agree about synchronicity. It is such a gift when one book leads into another and one is able to gain different perspectives of events and places. I am not familiar with this author but her work sounds absolutely fascinating.
ReplyDeleteYour description of synchronicity in reading is perfect! I will read more of Dubravka Ugresic. She has a novel called Baba Yaga Laid an Egg! That is one I want to read.
DeleteI have read Baba Yaga Laid an Egg and it wasn't really my kind of book, but I did still find it interesting and unusual. I think you would enjoy it. Black Lamb and Grey Falcon is a book I definitely want to read one day!
ReplyDeleteIt took me three tries to get into Black Lamb and Grey Falcon. This time I am taking it slowly so I don't burn out, looking up the things I don't get and using lots of map study. I am learning much I have wanted to know about the region.
DeleteI love the title for Fox and the author's us of the fox as a trickster!! I will have to add this book to my reading wishlist.
ReplyDeleteThis was an excellent introduction to this author's work. I want to read more of her writing.
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