Milorad Pavić (1929–2009)

Every Pavic I pick up seems more inventive than the last. This is a much more straightforward story than the extremely experimental Dictionary of the Khazars, but it still has some playfulness in its second half which is arranged as a crossword and invites the reader to choose to read "down" or "across". Of course the exact explanation for how to do this doesn't come until 80-odd pages later, but the challenge of interpreting a solution will likely be a fun challenge for some readers.

With works like these I tend to let the language and imagery just wash over me and Pavic does not disappoint in that regard either: there is a lot of clever wordplay, fairy and folktales which seem too delightfully playful to be real (or are maybe just presented that way expertly by Pavic), wise women making hauntingly mysterious speeches to the men in their life, and anything else you might want in a surrealist novel by an accomplished poet.… (altro)

Un ingenioso y frustrado arquitecto de Belgrado, Atanas Svilar, emprende la búsqueda de su padre, un oficial desaparecido en Grecia durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial. La verdad de este destino, parte del cual se inició dos mil años atrás, tal vez se encuentre en la historia y los secretos de un antiquísimo monasterio situado en las cumbres del Monte Athos, una inaccesible montaña a orillas del mar Egeo. Sin embargo, esta búsqueda no es más que el punto de partida de un brillante mosaico que depara consecuencias inesperadas: Atanas Svilar se hace rico y célebre bajo el nombre de Atanas Razin, triunfa en California y, a orillas del río Potomac, dirige la construcción de una réplica exacta de la palaciega residencia del mariscal Tito. Mientras tanto, su esposa, la cantante Vitacha Milut, se enamora perdidamente del lector.… (altro)