Combustions

Srđan Srdić’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, Srdić 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. Srdić’s stories are linguistically flawless, authentic and emblematically recognizable. The ironic distance that Srdić 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. About the Author Srđan Srdic 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 Dusan 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 Popovic in Kikinda, where he also founded a creative reading workshop. Together with Vladimir Arsenic, he leads a creative writing workshop in Belgrade. Srdic 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); short story collections Espirando (2011) and Sagorevanja (Combustions) (2014) and the book of essays Zapisi iz čitanja (Notes from Reading) (2014). He has won the Ulaznica (2007), Laza Lazarevic (2009), Biljana Jovanovic (2012) and Edo Budisa (2012) literary awards, as well as a scholarship from the Borislav Pekic Fund (2010). Srđan Srdic's texts and books have been translated into English, German, Ukrainian, Macedonian, Romanian, Slovenian, Albanian and Hungarian. At present, he lives in Mikro-naselje, next to Kikinda, Serbia.

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.