Best European Fiction 2013

by Aleksandar Hemon (Editor), John Banville (Preface by)

Overview

2013 may be the best year yet for Best European Fiction. The inimitable John Banville joins the list of distinguished preface writers for Aleksandar Hemon's series, and A. S. Byatt represents England among a luminous cast of European contributors. Fans of the series will find everything they've grown to love, while new readers will discover what they've been missing!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781564787927
Publisher:	Deep Vellum Publishing
Publication date:	11/20/2012
Series:	Best European Fiction Series
Edition description:	2013 ed.
Pages:	463
Product dimensions:	8.80(w) x 5.70(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Aleksandar Hemon is the author of "The Lazarus Project, "which was a finalist for the 2008 National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award, and three books of short stories: "The Question of Bruno"; "Nowhere Man", which was also a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award; and "Love and Obstacles". He was the recipient of a 2003 Guggenheim Fellowship and a "genius grant" from the MacArthur Foundation. He lives in Chicago.

John Banville

Editorial Reviews

“Best European Fiction 2010 . . . offers an appealingly diverse look at the Continent’s fiction scene.””

New York Times

“Readers for whom the expression ‘foreign literature’ means the work of Canada’s Alice Munro stand to have their eyes opened wide and their reading exposure exploded as they encounter works from places such as Croatia, Bulgaria, and Macedonia (and, yes, from more familiar terrain, such as Spain, the UK, and Russia).”

Booklist Starred Review

“Best European Fiction is an exhilarating read.”

Time

“The collection’s diverse range of styles includes more experimental works than a typical American anthology might . . . [Mr. Hemon’s] only criteria were to include the best works from as many countries as possible.”

Wall Street Journal

"Readers for whom the expression ‘foreign literature’ means the work of Canada’s Alice Munro stand to have their eyes opened wide and their reading exposure exploded as they encounter works from places such as Croatia, Bulgaria, and Macedonia (and, yes, from more familiar terrain, such as Spain, the UK, and Russia)."

Starred Review - Booklist

"Best European Fiction is an exhilarating read."

Time Magazine

One might expect the fourth edition of this series, an instant classic, to have a celebratory sameness. But while the selections remain diverse and high quality, this new volume has a different feel from its predecessors—somewhat more meditative and spookier and noticeably concerned with the totalitarian mind-set, governmental or otherwise. Whether that reflects the current state of European writing or editor Hemon’s preoccupation while reading, the result is still engrossing. Altogether 32 countries are represented, from Iceland to Macedonia; one story is translated from Basque, while another, translated from German, is by a Turkish writer. It’s especially charming to see Tomás Mac Síomóin’s eerie, is-the-doctor-mad “Music in the Bone,” a work from Ireland that’s been translated from Irish. Other standouts include Finish Tiina Raevaara’s “My Creator, My Creation,” a dark Coppelia-like tale about what we can and cannot control; Belgian Paul Edmund’s “Grand Froid,” a sinister, absurdist story about a play’s performance that makes us rethink art vs. reality; Georgian Lasha Bugadze’s “The Sins of the Wolf,” about a reader who stubbornly insists that an author’s characters are real; and Ukrainian Tania Malyarchuk’s zany “Me and My Sacred Cow.” Dividing the stories thematically (e.g., space, memory) might have been heavy-handed but actually seems to work.

Verdict Highly recommended for discriminating readers.—Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Library Journal