“Compartments” reviewed on Strange Horizons

Here is an excerpt from Andy Sawyer’s review of The Apex Book of World SF, posted on Strange Horizons:

Finally, there is “Compartments” by Zoran Živković, first published in Serbian in 2004. Živković, another World Fantasy Award winner and a writer who has been frequently published in Interzone has a Kafkaesque quality of surreal and often humorous strangeness and it’s here to the fore in “Compartments.” The carriages visited by the narrator are venues for non sequiturs, mystery, and bizarre logics. In them he meets (among others) chess-playing monks, an old gentleman who ate his first wife “but not all at once, of course . . . otherwise he might have been sent to the gallows,” and the conductor who is overwhelmed by the simple message “not to lose hope.” It ends the anthology on a high note, and our only disappointment is that it has ended. As in the last sentence of “Compartments,” we pause, hope that more will be said, and when it isn’t we move on…

The Strange Horizons interview

Nicholas Seeley had some interesting questions for the Apex Book of World SF Authors on the Strange Horizons website. Here are Zoran Zivkovic’s answers:

N.S.: Do you think speculative fiction reflects a national identity or national preoccupations?

Z.Z.: As far as I know, the term “speculative fiction” is used only in the English language countries. And even in English it is not a literary theory term, but just an invention of the publishing industry. The same is with another publishing industry label: “fantasy.” There is no equivalent for it in other languages either. In this part of the world we use the generic term “fantastika.” It has a very long and fruitful tradition in Europe…

The simplest definition of fantastika is that it is non-realistic, non-mimetic fiction. There are many forms of fantastika. Epic fantastika, mythic fantastika, folklore fantastika, oniric fantastika, fairy tale fantastika and so on—all the way to its twentieth century incarnations: science fantastika (or, as you know it, science fiction) and speculative fantastika (speculative fiction). (The publishing industry label “fantasy” is actually a low-level hybrid of epic fantastika and fairy tale fantastika.)

Among the bards of fantastika from Central and Eastern Europe are certainly E. T. A. Hoffmann, Franz Kafka, Mikhail Bulgakov, Stanislaw Lem—to name just a few.

It is nearly as old as the literacy itself. The Epic of Gilgamesh is among the earliest works of literature and it is full of fantastical elements. It is estimated that almost 75 percent of everything that has been written in the last 5,000 years is one or other form of fantastika. Realistic fiction is of a relatively recent origin and, in a certain sense, its mimetic nature betrays the very essence of the art of prose: inventing something that doesn’t exist. Our ability to imagine, to fantasize, is probably our most fundamental trait that makes us truly unique.

As for my “fantastika,” it doesn’t reflect anything “national.” It is a highly individual discipline . . . The global position of my country or its recent history has absolutely nothing to do with my work. I would have written the same books even if I had lived in Switzerland or among Eskimos.

N.S.: Do you think speculative fiction is the product of one cultural mindset, or is it universal? And what role does it have in communicating across cultures?

Z.Z.: The “fantastika” is maybe our most fundamental intercultural art.

When we write realistic fiction, we are almost always limited to a local area. The non-mimetic nature of fantastika is similar to a sort of lingua franca, Esperanto. No matter what our native language is, we easily understand fantastika although it might be a far stranger land than a realistic locality different from ours. . . .

As I said, by being not local, fantastika is universal. Take [my story] “Compartments” [in the Apex anthology] as an example. No matter where a reader comes from, provided that the concept of a train is within his experience, he doesn’t have to know anything about Serbia to be able to understand—and, hopefully, enjoy—my work.

There are certain natural limitations that are implicit to realistic fiction. Fantastika gives an author the freedom to handle love and death themes unrestrained by realistic human conditions. It opens the gates of a much larger universe. There is again a good example in my opus. Extraordinary situations various characters of my “Impossible Stories” books have to face are simply not possible within a realistic work of fiction. And only in these non-realistic situations was it possible to say something fundamentally new about love and death.

Adam Callaway reviews Compartments

Here is an excerpt from Adam Callaway’s review of “The Apex Book of World SF” anthology on The Weirdside:

“Compartments” by Zoran Zivkovic, Serbia

The other story that warrants the price of this anthology. Every time I read a new Zivkovic story, he reminds me why he is my second favorite short story writer (after the Blessed Ted Chiang). This story about a man, a conductor, and a bunch of train cars populated by extremely colorful people will keep you silently chuckling to yourself. The best part: you never find out anything about the main character or main conflict, and you want it that way. I can see how some of the unenlightened would throw the book across the room from the lack of resolution, but it really fits the story. The other reason Zivkovic is a true master of the short form is that he takes an incredibly pedestrian idea and makes it one of the most entertaining stories I’ve read all year.

5/5

The Agony Column interviews Zoran Zivkovic

Rick Kleffel of The Agony Column interviews Zoran Zivkovic. Here is an excerpt:

One of the writers I was happiest to get a chance to interview for the World Fantasy Convention, even if just by email, was Zoran Zivkovic. His work is so unique and so very much in what I might call the expansionist school of fantasy — in that each work of his expands the definition of what we might call fantasy fiction, simply because they resemble nothing you’ve ever read before. Here’s our chance to see what is behind his fiction.

RK: Young adult fiction is increasingly read by adults as well as the intended, or at least, included audience of adolescents. Science fiction and fantasy have often been characterized as adolescent fiction; is this of use to you as a writer? Do you find such a characterization helpful, hurtful, or irrelevant —and why?

ZZ: As a professor of creative writing at Belgrade University I tell my students at the very first class that they are absolutely in the wrong place if their prime ambition in writing is to get famous or rich. Even if they eventually achieve these goals, they are quite irrelevant. The noble art of prose is not just a means to achieve a goal. It is the Goal Itself.

You can read the whole interview here.

The Last Book in South Korea

The South Korean edition of The Last Book got several reviews in the prestigious daily newspapers and weekly magazines. Here are the links to some of them:

http://www.busanilbo.com/news2000/html/2004/0622/067020040622.1021095059.html

http://books.hani.co.kr/section-009100003/2004/06/p009100003200406181834065.html

http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=110&oid=038&aid=0000243972

http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=102&oid=088&aid=0000001585

http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=114&oid=033&aid=0000004207

http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=103&oid=022&aid=0000037619

http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=103&oid=016&aid=0000139463

SF Signal interview

An exclusive interview with Zoran Zivkovic is posted at SF Signal.

Hi! Thanks for agreeing to do the interview. I read in an interview that you consider yourself a writer “without any prefixes.” Why do you think some readers, critics, and other writers have biases against fiction that are typically labeled as genre or might include elements of the fantastika?

These are two very different things. The fantastika is a noble and ancient art. (A much broader term, by the way, than “fantasy.”) According to some studies in literary history, about 70 percent of everything that has ever been written in the last 5,000 years, ever since literacy came about, belongs to one of many forms of  the fantastika. Some readers might not like it, that’s quite legitimate, but I don’t see how any serious critic could have biases against it. This would mean denying that the vast majority of the world literary heritage has any value. As for genre fiction, it refers to products of the contemporary publishing industry. Since any industry is primarily about making a profit, it’s no wonder that their products don’t have much art; art by its very nature does not go along with popularity. And only popularity, mass readership, paves the way to profit. Alas, the more popular usually means the more trivial, less artistic.

I read in another interview that when you were a kid, you were horrible at writing and poetry. What made you decide to persist at it and pursue writing? What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome before becoming a published writer?

Actually, I wasn’t horrible at writing when I was young, since I wrote my first piece of prose only when I was 45. I tried my hand at poetry, yes, and I don’t think these were really poor attempts. In that interview I referred to some high school home work that made my teacher conclude that I would never make my living by writing. I often remember that episode now that I teach creative writing. It makes me refrain from jumping to any similar conclusion even when I read a particularly bad story. It’s impossible to be a reliable prophet when it comes to prose writing. The biggest challenge I had to overcome before becoming a published writer was to actually write the works. Everything after that was rather smooth and straightforward, since I was myself my first publisher…

Your fiction has been translated into several languages. Do you have any theories as to why you’re popular internationally?

I guess there is a simple explanation. Readers from many countries apparently like what I write…

I read in an interview that you admit that your fiction is neglected by the literary establishment there. Is that still the case? Do you still seek their approval (and why or why not)?

The Serbian literary establishment is proverbially conservative and traditional. They still consider there can’t be any serious literature outside what they define as “great national themes.” Since my writing doesn’t belong to that category, and yet still has an impact abroad (I am currently one of most widely translated Serbian authors), they are now in some sort of a bind. They don’t know what to do with me. They can’t accept “the verdict” of the rest of the world without jeopardizing their conservatism. I have no reason to seek their approval. Approval will probably come by itself with the new generation of the Serbian literary scholars.

When it comes to translation, what are the difficulties in finding a good translator? When it comes to the English translation of your work, how does Alice Copple-Tosic best captures your “voice” and how did you meet such a wonderful translator?

I was extremely lucky to meet Alice. She has translated as many as 16 out of 18 prose books of mine. By now she has profoundly penetrated not only my language but even deeper, the way I think. Translators from Serbian into English are a rare breed, since there aren’t many native English speakers who are fluent in such a diabolically complicated language as Serbian. I am eternally grateful to Alice for everything I have achieved abroad.

Why do you think other Serbian fiction isn’t as popular internationally? Which Serbian author(s) should the rest of the world be reading?

If by “internationally” you imply the English language area, there is a simple explanation. US or UK publisher very rarely bring out books in translation. That’s really pity, since I am quite sure many English-speaking readers would greatly enjoy books by Goran Petrovic, Vladislav Bajac, Dragan Velikic or Svetislav Basara, to name just a few.

You teach Creative Writing at the University of Belgrade. Does this profession have any impact on your writing? What advice would you give to students?

This profession doesn’t have any impact on my writing since I have practically stopped writing since I started to teach. It is just a coincidence, of course. I’ll be able to answer your question as soon as I start writing again. As for my students, at the very first class of my course I give them as many as four convincing reasons to abandon it right away. And yet, masochistically, they all stay with me…

You also wrote papers on science fiction previously. What’s the appeal of science fiction and fantasy for you?

I was involved in many ways with science fiction for about fifteen years. But I was much younger at that time. I don’t think that what appealed to me then would have a strong impact on me at this age. Evidently, I changed. But science fiction changed too.

What’s the speculative fiction scene in Serbia like?

It’s very moderate. Some people would consider this an exaggeration…

You’ve written a wide variety of material from short stories to novels. Is there a particular format you’re most comfortable with? How about a format that you want to challenge yourself?

I don’t think about any format in particular when I start writing. I don’t choose formats. Formats choose me…

For unfamiliar readers, where we can find more of your work?

My UK publisher, PS Publishing, specialized in bringing out limited editions, will soon have a complete set of my prose opus.