EARLY SORROWS (FOR CHILDREN AND SENSITIVE READERS)

by Danilo Ki ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1998

The late Serbo-Croatian novelist first published this (previously untranslated) semi-autobiographical work in 1969. It's a collection of 20 linked stories and mood pieces, crowned by ""A Short Autobiography,"" about Ki's childhood in (the former) Yugoslavia. Intimations of future disillusionments and bereavements (such as his Jewish father's deportation to Auschwitz) lurk near the often comic surface of such disarming vignettes as ""Engaged to Be Married,"" ""A Mushroom Story,"" and ""Pears""--which, at their best, evoke dangers inherent in even the simplest quotidian objects and rituals. Minor work, but well worth having in English as a pendant to Ki's more ambitious fictions, A Tomb for Boris Davidovich (1978) and Hourglass (1990).

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1998

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 144

Publisher: New Directions

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1998

Categories: FICTION