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Σοφίτα

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Σοφίτα είναι ο ναός που υπάρχει μέσα στον καθένα, εκείνο το μέρος απ' όπου ξεκινάει κανείς και όπου επιστρέφει στο τέλος, όπου ψάχνει τις απαντήσεις στα ερωτήματα που δεν έχουν απάντηση ή, μάλλον, κάθε απάντηση είναι ένα ψέμα. Τέτοια βιβλία γίνονται όταν σώμα που δεν ξέρει πώς να αγαπήσει πια, αγαπάει μια γυναίκα που ίσως να έχει φύγει στον κάτω κόσμο... Μια γυναίκα-θάλασσα στην οποία ξαναμπαρκάρει με τα κουπιά του σπασμένα και κάθε φορά επιστρέφει πιο πλούσιος για ένα σημάδι...

Ο ήρωας της Σοφίτας λέγεται Ορφέας. Κουβαλάει ένα αρχαίο όνομα και συνάμα μια σύγχρονη θλίψη. Μέσα από το βιβλίο περιγράφει την αναζήτηση μιας αγάπης που είναι πολύ πιο παλιά από τον ίδιο και την ερωμένη του κι όμως χωράει σε μερικά δυσανάγνωστα ραβασάκια και σκόρπιες αναμνήσεις που πονάνε όπου και να τις αγγίξεις... Ο τρόπος που εξομολογείται μπορεί και σώζει τις ιστορίες για την αγάπη από τη θλιμμένη μοίρα των παλιών ιστοριών που δεν ενδιαφέρουν πια κανέναν.

Η Σοφίτα είναι από εκείνα τα βιβλία που "αλλάζουν χέρια". Το αντίτυπο που ήρθε στα δικά μου είχε πάνω του δύο σημειώσεις... Η μία έλεγε: "Σου έγραφα πολύ. Δεν έλαβες τίποτα απ'αυτά, αγαπημένη. Όλα εξαφανίστηκαν κάπου ανάμεσα στις φλόγες και στις ανείπωτες λέξεις..." Και η άλλη: "Σου έγραφα πολύ. Δεν έλαβες τίποτα απ'αυτά, αγαπημένε. Όλα όσα έγιναν είναι μόνο μια σκιά μιας αγάπης που μπορούσε να συμβεί..." Φυσικά, τα ονόματα που είχαν το θάρρος να ξεγυμνωθούν κάτω από το φως μιας τέτοιας ομολογίας, δεν θα τα αναφέρω. Άλλωστε, αρκεί ο καθένας που θα διαβάσει αυτό το βιβλίο να προσθέσει τα κατάλληλα ονόματα και να κάνει τη Σοφίτα δικό του, προσωπικό ημερολόγιο.

Ένα ξεχωριστό μυθιστόρημα που ξεκινάει ως ερωτική ιστορία για να ξεδιπλώσει στη συνέχεια μια σειρά από "γραπτά μνημεία", όπως γράφει ο ίδιος ο συγγραφέας: λατινικές παροιμίες, την προσωπική του βιβλιοθήκη με τους τίτλους των βιβλίων, γράμματα, ημερολόγια, cartes de vins, τη λίστα των ενοίκων της πολυκατοικίας, ακόμα και αποσπάσματα από το Μαγικό Βουνό του Τόμας Μάνν.

Ο Ντανίλο Κις αποτελεί μιαν εμβληματική μορφή της μεταπολεμικής λογοτεχνίας της Σερβίας. Αναλαμβάνοντας κατά τη διάρκεια της δεκαετίας του '60 να στρέψει την πεζογραφία της χώρας του στο παιχνίδι των προωθημένων αφηγηματικών τεχνικών, αλλά και στο πεδίο της διακειμενικότητας και της αυτοαναφορικότητας, ο Ντανίλο Κις εκφράζει το πνεύμα μιας ιδιαίτερα κρίσιμης και πολύ χαρακτηριστικής για την περίπτωσή του μεταβολής. Από αυτή την άποψη, η έκδοση του πρώτου βιβλίου του στα ελληνικά, υπό τον τίτλο Σοφίτα μας βοηθάει να καταλάβουμε αρκετά καλά τα στοιχήματα που παίχτηκαν στη λογοτεχνική σερβική σκηνή δεκαπέντε μόλις χρόνια μετά τον τερματισμό του Β' Παγκοσμίου Πολέμου.
...Εντυπωσιακή στο πρώτο βιβλίο του Κις είναι και η παντελής έλλειψη συλλογικών αναφορών: η κοινωνία, η πολιτική και η ιστορία έχουν δραπετεύσει πανηγυρικά από τις σελίδες του και το μόνο το οποίο είμαστε σε θέση να παρακολουθήσουμε είναι η έντονα προβληματική και βαριά τραυματισμένη ατομικότητα των ηρώων του: μια ατομικότητα που θρυμματισμένη καθώς δείχνει σε εκατοντάδες κομμάτια δεν μπορεί να ελπίζει σε καμιάν ολοκλήρωση. Ένα βιβλίο για τη σπαραγμένη συνείδηση του ανθρώπου των μέσων του 20ού αιώνα, αλλά και για τον τρόπο με τον οποίο προσχωρεί στον μοντερνισμό μια λογοτεχνία η οποία μας έχει δώσει κατά καιρούς βαρύνουσες αποδείξεις για το μέγεθος και τη σημασία της.
(Βαγγέλης Χατζηβασιλείου, Ελευθεροτυπία, 13 Φεβρ 2005)

158 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1962

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About the author

Danilo Kiš

85 books533 followers
Danilo Kiš was born in Subotica, Danube Banovina, Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the son of Eduard Kiš (Kis Ede), a Hungarian Jewish railway inspector, and Milica Kiš (born Dragićević) from Cetinje, Montenegro. During the Second World War, he lost his father and several other family members, who died in various Nazi camps. His mother took him and his older sister Danica to Hungary for the duration of the war. After the end of the war, the family moved to Cetinje, Montenegro, Yugoslavia, where Kiš graduated from high school in 1954.

Kiš studied literature at the University of Belgrade, and graduated in 1958 as the first student to complete a course in comparative literature. He was a prominent member of the Vidici magazine, where he worked until 1960. In 1962 he published his first two novels, Mansarda and Psalam 44. Kiš received the prestigious NIN Award for his Peščanik ("Hourglass") in 1973, which he returned a few years later, due to a political dispute.

During the following years, Kiš received a great number of national and international awards for his prose and poetry.

He spent most of his life in Paris and working as a lecturer elsewhere in France.

Kiš was married to Mirjana Miočinović from 1962 to 1981. After their separation, he lived with Pascale Delpech until his early death from lung cancer in Paris.

A film based on Peščanik (Fövenyóra) directed by the Hungarian Szabolcs Tolnai is currently in post-production.

Kiš was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature and was due to win it, were it not for his untimely death in 1989.

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5 stars
318 (35%)
4 stars
301 (33%)
3 stars
196 (21%)
2 stars
65 (7%)
1 star
24 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 79 reviews
Profile Image for Vit Babenco.
1,784 reviews5,792 followers
April 3, 2024
In the beginning of the novel, there is an unobvious reference to Crimen amoris, a poem by Paul Verlaine:
“In a palace of silk and gold, in Ecbatana,
Beautiful demons, adolescent Satans brave,
Mid the sound of dulcimers of Arabia,
To the seven sins their fivefold senses gave.”
Somehow these picturesque lines summarize the rebellious spirit of The Attic.
The author identifies himself with Orpheus consequently the first chapter is called Eurydice
I listened to invisible trains weeping in the night and to crackly leaves latching onto the hard, frozen earth with their fingernails.
Everywhere packs of ravenous, scraggly dogs came out to meet us. They appeared out of dark doorways and squeezed through narrow openings in the fences. They would accompany us mutely in large packs. But from time to time they would raise their somber, sad eyes to look at us. They had some sort of strange respect for our noiseless steps, for our embraces.

The bohemian attic, in which the raconteur abides, is somewhere in between Olympus and Tartarus: friendship and love, music and lyricism, dreams and fantasies, imaginary journeys and imaginary returns from the imagined voyages…
In late autumn I returned to the attic. I climbed the stairs excitedly, lugging my heavy backpack loaded with shells and the seeds of exotic plants. I had brought a gift for everyone: for Eurydice a necklace of dolphin teeth and a conch named Mandragora, for Igor a shrunken head from Equatorial Africa, and for the old cleaning lady a seven-colored reed mat.

Youth is a poetic season – all the colours are so bright and fresh.
Profile Image for Helga.
1,387 reviews484 followers
July 19, 2024
3.5

I am writing in order to emancipate myself from my egoism.

The Attic is where our writer philosopher who calls himself Orpheus and his friend Igor live and dream and sleepwalk.

We live there because of its proximity to the stars.

The story is set in the Yugoslavia of the 1950s and revolves around the two characters, the women they love and the people they encounter.

What would we be like without journeys, without conversations?

It was difficult, reading this plot-less book, to differentiate between what was real and what was a dream. The book is mainly a series of conversation, philosophical discussions about life and diary entries.

Such is life. It grabs people by the soul and doesn’t let them breath.
Profile Image for Jim Fonseca.
1,163 reviews8,501 followers
October 26, 2022
[Revised, pictures and shelves added 10/26/22]

Two young studs get a taste of the freedoms to come in the 1950s in Belgrade, Serbia (then Yugoslavia). They push the envelope, play music, get involved with women, and talk ceaselessly of poetry, writing and philosophy.

Their rented attic hangout is a dump. Later they open a pub. In this youthful male exuberance, I’m reminded of the Black Book by Lawrence Durrell.

description

There is no plot and the story doesn’t really go anywhere. It’s a quick read, just about 100 pages, and I assume, since it was originally published in 1962, it was one of the early works of Kis who went on to better writings. The translator gives us an introduction.

Kis (1935-1989) is considered a Serbian writer. (I tread carefully in saying that because I often receive comments and corrections whenever I write about the ethnicity of authors from the former Yugoslavia.) His mother was a Serbian Orthodox Christian. His father was Jewish, born in Hungary and murdered at Auschwitz.

description

Kis is best known in English translation for his Encyclopedia of the Dead, which I have also reviewed, and for his Family Cycle trilogy: Early Sorrows, Garden, Ashes and Hourglass. He also wrote as much poetry as prose.

Top photo of modern-day Belgrade from traveloffpath.com
The author on a Montenegro stamp from Wikipedia
Profile Image for Danilo.
48 reviews45 followers
July 12, 2019
Ne mogu da se setim gde sam skoro pročitao nešto oko toga kako nas prava umetnost uči da bolje prepoznajemo sopstvene emocije, da produbljujemo to, da nije sve samo "tužno", "lepo", "srećno"....već da to "tužno" može biti ispod 50 različitih vrsta tuge i da je svaka jedinstvena.
Kiš je nešto tako uspeo u ovoj knjizi, tako živopisno, a lagano je opisao neka osećanja za koja nisam ni znao da ih imam.
Profile Image for Marijana☕✨.
702 reviews83 followers
July 8, 2020
"To je zato što ideš iz krajnosti u krajnost. Nije li život negde između toga?"

Iskrena subjektivna ocena bi bila 3.5/5 i to verovatno zbog sopstvene nemoći i neznanja da skopčam šta je Kiš sve ovde hteo da kaže. A što je najjače, ubeđena sam da bih joj dala najvišu ocenu da sam je čitala sa 17 godina kada sam se ložila na sve što se trudi da bude duboko, ludo, filozofsko, poetično i patetično. Neću reći i zbog latinskog, na latinski se ložim još uvek, a jedan hot take:
Kiš je ovde tako dark academia.
Njegovi likovi su samoprozvani umetnici, pisci, pesnici, intelektualci koji jedva krpe kraj sa krajem i žive u tom raspalom stanu na tavanu gde se opijaju, verovatno i drogiraju, i pokušavaju da skopčaju život, željni autentičnog iskustva ("sećaš li se da smo hteli da postanemo ubice, samo zato da bismo se obogatili i tim iskustvom"; Henry Winter, ti ste?!).
Pa još kad kaže: "Svuda smo po zidu ispisali latinske i grčke sentence kojih smo se pridržavali kao deset božjih zapovesti i izgovarali ih u časovima intelektualnih kriza i očajanja kao molitve očišćenja" ili "Onaj od nas dvojice koji je bio u stanju amoka, ljuljao bi se u škripavoj stolici i izgovarao pitijska proroštva i vizije."
Dakle, da, ovo je roman koji bi definitivno više legao staroj i mlađoj (ha) meni koja je baš volela motiv vozova, sve što vuče na Miljkovića, što spominje Remboa i Van Goga i što "putuje zvezdama bliže".

Profile Image for ατζινάβωτο φέγι..
180 reviews6 followers
April 22, 2017
''Θέε μου για πόσο καιρό ζούσα στην Σοφίτα λες και ήταν κάποιο μακρινό αστέρι''

And true love waits
In haunted attics

Είναι το πιο ιδιαίτερο βιβλίο που διάβασα επιλέγοντας το λογω εξωφύλλου. Και μετά γύρισα να διαβάσω το οπισθόφυλλο και μου φάνηκε ενδιαφέρον. Τίποτα όμως δεν προοικονομούσε ότι θα διάβαζα κατι τέτοιο. Είναι το πρώτο μυθιστόρημα του Σέρβου συγγραφέα Ντανίλο Κις και ο ίδιος το περιγράφει σαν την δική του διανοουμενίστικη και συναισθηματική βιογραφία, ακτινογραφία των εφηβικών χρόνων της εκμάθησης, των ανησυχιών, και των ανταρσιών του. Eίναι meta, σουρεαλιστικό, αστείο, ειρωνικό, τρυφερό με κυνικούς ενίοτε σπαρταριστούς διαλόγους, συμβολισμούς. Στην ουσία την ώρα που εμεις διαβάζουμε την ιστορία ο συγγραφέας την πλάθει, την αλλάζει, την εμποτίζει με φαντασιώσεις, επιρροές (υπάρχει αυτούσιο απόσπασμα από το μαγικό βουνό του Μαν τοσο φυσικά σπαρμένο στην αφήγηση)! Η σοφίτα δεν είναι το μέρος μονο οπου συναντιέται με την Ευρυδίκη του και εκείνος σαν ένας άλλος Ορφέας παίζει το λαούτο του αλλα και το ίδιο το συναρπαστικό, χαοτικό, πολύχρωμο και σκοτεινό μυαλό του. Με τοίχους γραμμένους με λατινικούς στίχους και αποφθέγματα και σκιές που σχηματίζουν ηπείρους και βουνά και δάση, και αστερισμους και τον καλό του σοφό φίλο Τράγο-Εξυπνάκια(μορφές όπως αυτή ή ο ιθαγενής Ταμ-Ταμ , η Βρόμικη Γάτα δεν είναι παρα εξιδανικεύσεις ή περιπαιχτικά πορτραίτα πραγματικών προσώπων). Προσπαθεί να ανάγει την πραγματικότητα σε τέχνη-φαντασίωση και το αντίστροφο. Αναζητά την αγάπη μέσα από σκόρπιες αναμνήσεις και δυσανάγνωστα ραβασάκια. Μιας αγάπης που δεν έγινε ποτέ αλλα πονά οπου κι αν την αγγίξεις. Και ο δύσμοιρος Ορφέας μας να την κατηγορεί ότι του άρπαξε το αριστούργημα του, τον εγωισμό του. Και να ψάχνει γιατρειά και να μη βρίσκει. Πως να το τελειώσεις αραγε αυτό το μυθιστόρημα χωρίς αυτήν ??
‘’Γιατι δεν αυτοκτονείς λαουτιέρη, ξέρω ότι χωρίς την Ευρυδίκη είσαι μόνο μια σκιά. Αυτοκτόνησε, αποτελείωσε την σκιά σου δεν έχεις γεννηθεί για συμβιβασμούς.’’

Η Ευρυδική είναι ένα ιδανικό και πρέπει να είναι τέλεια αλλιώς μόλις την πλησιάσεις θα χαθεί.
Profile Image for سارة سمير .
790 reviews529 followers
September 17, 2020
I don't like people who get out of everything like earthworms. No scars, no scratches. Comedians.

description

لم استصيغ طريقة دانيلو كيس في الكتابة .. طريقة غير متناسقة وقصه غير مترابطه وحتي آخر كلمه لم افهم الهدف منها ولا سبب كتابتها او حتي دور البطل في الرواية

Incoherent completely and hard to understand. I didn't understand this messy way of writing a novel.
The narrator is Orpheus and he lives in a horrible Attic.

description

He plays his lute and also a stargazer. He falls in love with a woman and he named her Eurydice and thought about her all the time although she didn't do the same.
Orpheus is a weird and unstable character that was hard to get its perspectives.
He got a friend called Billy Wiseass or Igor as Orpheus calls him.

The translation was the worst ever. He didn't even try to translate the french, German, and Serbian languages and I had to skip many pages without knowing anything about what happened in them.

رواية غريبة غير مفهومة وشخصية اورفيوس عجيبه وفوضويه جدا
الترجمة الانجليزية من أسوأ ما يكون ولا يوجد ترجمه عربيه
لم استمتع بالرواية ابدا ولا ارشحها لمن يريد ان يجرب الادب الصربي لأول مرة
Profile Image for Marko Bojkovský.
132 reviews30 followers
March 27, 2018
Mladi Kiš ili bilo koji mladi čovek.
Na pola puta između mladalačke opijenosti i rafaljnih šamarčina realnosti, između potrebe da se menja književnost i čitavi prokleti svet i godina koje kao da tek počinju da prolaze, ali prolaze, o svakako.
Mladi čovek između sebe i niza lica i likova koji prolaze i samo prolaze kroz život ostavljajući poneki ožiljak. Između zvezda koje postaju sve dalje i praznog stomaka koji sve jače reži.
Svi mi kojima se snovi i nadanja ruše, ideali propadaju, teške reči i izjave doživljavaju inflaciju, a ipak se držimo za nešto i ne puštamo... Katkad nešto veliko i čisto... Nekada, možda najčešće ništa više do mansarda puna miševa, pacova i bubašvaba...
Profile Image for Jonfaith.
2,147 reviews1,748 followers
April 12, 2014
Lord, I've been living in that attic as if on a star.
Rather quickly The Attic becomes a wonderful, if inchoate tale. The novel is a Jules et Jim in Belgrade of the 1950s. Well, maybe it is. So much could be poetic fancy. The reader is never quite sure. Anyway it is two men living in a loft. . . well, you know, an attic. Orpheus and Igor are the names of the defendants. The former even has a lute. He meets the love of his life, though neither he nor the reader is fully convinced. Just as surprising is a detour into Thomas Mann's Magic Mountain, replete with the French dialogue. This becomes a hovering metaphor, the attic as sanitarium, being protected from the artless influences outside. It almost works. The pair then open their own bohemian tavern. The wine list is included in text.

The novel is simply too glib. Such is the result of a first novel, one Kiš likely wrote in two weeks on a whim. I think I read somewhere that he penned this as a result of a State contest he heard advertised on the radio.
Profile Image for Eternauta.
250 reviews20 followers
October 18, 2020
"Ίγκορ φίλε, δε μας απομένει τίποτα άλλο παρά ένα έρημο νησί. Δεν είχαμε ορκιστεί, εδώ και καιρό, ότι ποτέ δε θα αυτοκτονήσουμε; Για χάρη της επόμενης στιγμής;"

Ειρωνικό, αυτόσαρκαστικό, σίγουρα αντι-λογοτεχνικό και τελείως αυτοαναφορικό ("εγωιστικό" όπως αυτοοικτίρεται συνεχώς ο Ορφέας - Kis) δεν κατάφερε να με αγγίξει. Ίσως αυτός να μην ήταν και πότε ο στόχος του.
Είναι πάντως γεμάτο πανέξυπνα τεχνάσματα και με τη φτωχή μου μάτια νομίζω ότι διαβάζεται καλύτερα ως κωμωδία - παρωδία της σοβαροφανούς λογοτεχνίας. Η συνήθεια του Kis να δανείζεται αυτούσια και να εντάσσει αυτολεξεί τμήματα κειμένων άλλων συγγραφέων (στην προκειμένη περίπτωση από το Μαγικό Βουνό του Τόμας Μανν) με τρόπο εξώφθαλμα αναρχικό θα του κόστιζε προς το τέλος της ζωής του μια μάλλον άδικη σκανδαλολογία περί λογοκλοπής.

Πάντως κλείνοντας την τελευταία σελίδα ένιωσα την επιθυμία να τον ξαναδιαβάσω!
Profile Image for Josh.
379 reviews261 followers
July 14, 2016
My experience with Danilo Kis's "The Attic" (or "The Loft" as it was originally entitled "Mansarda") was an interesting one or 'strange' as everyone at the beginning seems to feel about the things that are happening around them.  Self-Described as a Satirical Poem, Kis's wordplay on expressions in French-Serbian, off-and-on vulgarity and the philosophical questions of a youthful, yet imaginative mind stand affront within this first novel that was recently translated by John K. Cox of North Dakota State University.

Orpheus, the main narrator, falls in love with his self-nicknamed Eurydice and then rents the mansarda with his best friend, Igor, who he aptly calls 'Billy Wiseass'.  Once Eurydice feels that Orpheus has more ambition for other things than herself, she leaves...forever.

 Everything happens in the attic.  The art. The writing of antiquated Greek maxims.  The questionable ideas.  The love-making.  The dreams.  The lute playing.  The arguments.  The dialectics of to kill oneself or to keep on living.  The alcohol-induced debauchery.  The violence.  And the eventual revelation that this is a story within a story: written from the Attic itself.  

So now that I've finished, I ponder whether Danilo, Orpheus himself, is the narrator in first person?  Does any of this exist outside of paper or are these travels (to the Bay of Dolphins) and opening  of the restaurant Chez Two Desperados with Billy (on the coast) part of reality or just his imagination?  This is left for interpretation.  

Edit 07/14/2016: Seeing reviews for 'A Tomb for Boris Davidovich' made me recall this short work I read a couple years back. Kis is such an underrated, underappreciated writer!
Profile Image for Юра Мельник.
320 reviews39 followers
January 1, 2022
Невже Бротіґан читав Мансарду? Невже бітники з'явились у Сербії?
Profile Image for Bogdan Panajotovski.
97 reviews8 followers
July 10, 2019
U ovom trenutku, potpuno subjektivno kažem, savršeno. Poetika je strava. Knjiga o mladosti i u mladosti. Sjajno.

P.S. Kada je čitam sledećeg puta, siguran sam da mi se neće ovoliko dopasti. Ne zato što nije zanimljiva, nego zato što više neću biti ovoliko mlad, a možda i budem nesrećan pa mi se bude dopala sva ova naivnost i želja Danila Kiša. Želja za Euridikom.
Profile Image for Ivanko.
333 reviews5 followers
March 4, 2025
"Cveće raste na đubrištu"

Podnaslovljena kao "satirična poema" Mansarda je roman istraživanja, poput Židove "Zemaljske hrane" pleše na rubu egzistencijalizma, erotike; utopljena u svakojakim metafizičkim pitanjima.
Pretpostavljam da je djelo semi-autobiografsko, Kiš ga je napisao sa svega 25 godina. Radnja se odvija krajem pedesetih na raznim lokacijama; Orfej tako piše iz Ekvatorijalne Gvineje (Zaliva Dupina) i nekog ostrva imena "Školj" na Jadranu.
Međutim, najbitniji dio radnje odvija se u oronuloj i vlažnoj a ipak poetički uzvišenoj Mansardi...
Visina pak dolazi sa cijenom;
"...što viši spratovi, to se hladnije u njima živi. Neimaština, jadi, nesreće, neznanje i bolest teraju čoveka sprat po sprat uvis. Dok je bio dole, njega je još zanimalo životno šarenilo, nekako je učestvovao u njemu, iako mu je često od rođenja bilo nerazumljivo i nedostižno (sa usponom civilizacije raste broj neprilagođenih za život — to se ne sme izgubiti iz vida). Ukoliko je život terao čoveka na sve veću visinu, njemu je postajalo sve hladnije; utoliko je manje mogao da shvati život i da mu se prilagodi."~ A. A. BLOK
Glavni lik (Orfej) se skrio tako na osamljenom vrhu, u svojoj zvijezdi, noćima je ispijao mjesečinu, trovao se tufinom, živio kao čarobni frulaš (ili možda bolje lautar) sa svojim štakorima u sobi, pisao poeziju, urezivao sopstvenim noktima latinske izraze na vlagom izjedene zidove i vodio dijaloge do ranog jutra sa njegovim najboljim prijateljem Jarcem-Mudrijašem.
Što bi Orfej bio bez svoje Laute i... bez svoje Euridike, svog vječnog ideala i zvijezde koju prati? Naravno i nju je štovao u svojoj dragoj i visokoj Mansardi.
"I već smo se penjali uz klizave stepenice, držeći se za ruke kao ljubavnici davnih vremena. Gore je svetlost uličnih lampi odolevala mraku. Kiša je poput jata sićušnih insekata lepršala oko kandelabra. U lokvama na zacakljenom asfaltu titrale su naše blede senke."
Nakon kratke romanse Orfej gubi svoju Euridiku i ostaje nasukan na hridinama očaja. Vrijedi li dalje živjeti i kako?
Može li srce podariti drugoj, sad kad je lišen svog ideala? Valja li pobjeći? Kada je boraveći u Ekvatorijalnoj Gvineji u simboličnom "Zalivu dupina" govorio sa pripadnikom tamošnjeg plemena otkrio je zašto se zaliv zove baš tako. Naime, kada bi mladić sanjao istu ženu u sedam različitih navrata, u noći pod krvavom mjesečinom, na hridi ponad zaliva položio bi svoje tijelo na nju i zarezao si vene, što bi i izabranica učinila ukoliko ga voli. Ukoliko to nije slučaj bacila bi njegovo srce Dupinima na gozbu, stoga i naziv "Zaliv dupina". A zašto je to bio uopće običaj? Zar ima razloga živjeti čovjek koji ne može biti sa onom koju voli, može li i ima li pravo dati to polovno srce nekoj drugoj u budućnosti, je li bolja opcija umrijeti u zagrljaju svoje muze?
Ovo je Orfej izjavio povodom gubitka ljubljene:
"U svoju sam je sebičnost pretvorio, Igore druže, u uzdah, u disanje... I šta sada mogu, Kozorogi, nego da čupam sebi kosu, da oči sebi vadim. Otela mi je, Igore brate, moju sebičnost, moje remek-delo!"
Orfej se, poslije dekadencije "Valpurgijske noći" kada svoju lautu prodaje za cveće namijenjeno za kurvu, odlučuje na bijeg i traženje distrakcije (klišeizirano - pronalazak sebe) prvo u vidu otvaranja lokala u omanjem mjestu a kasnije i u čuvanju krava na jadranskom škoju (nešto kao moja epizoda pastira u Kuni).
U epilogu sunčanog nedjeljnog dana, Orfej simbolično silazi sa svog voljenog gnijezda Mansarde i počinje živjeti.



"Nikad nećeš moći sa mnom
brati dunje ranke...
Nikad nećeš moći sa mnom
gledati uranke..."
Profile Image for Ermina.
318 reviews2 followers
February 22, 2022
Pff, dragi Danilo šta napisa.
Uglavnom, ne pamtim kad sam zadnji put pročitala ovako dobru ljubavnu priču. Nimalo oslobođeno erotike (mhm), suptilno, pomalo boemski, ponegdje surovo, protkano humorom.
10/5!
Profile Image for S̶e̶a̶n̶.
979 reviews582 followers
July 6, 2016

Though not on par with Garden, Ashes, this first novel still contains flashes of the brilliance found in that later book. While it has the feel of a bildungsroman, it strays outside that tradition, playing with form and eschewing plot. Kiš is one of those rare writers whose proportions of humor, melancholy, and dream logic reach closest to my ideal. Recommended for fans of Bruno Schulz.
Profile Image for Alex O'Connor.
Author 1 book87 followers
September 29, 2024
A strange one! Enjoyable but deeply odd. Serbian literature… those Eastern Europeans do it like nobody else
Profile Image for Aleksandra S..
124 reviews45 followers
February 11, 2020

Kišova Mansarda je zapravo jedna priča o odrastanju. Kako to obično biva, sam tok odrastanja mora da podražava to večito traganje za odgovorima na neka pitanja, pitanja koja zaokupljuju svako živo biće, pitanja koja su neprolazna, sveprisutna. Glavni junak ovog dela jeste Orfej koji se zaljubljuje u, ni manje ni više nego, Euridiku (devojku koja sama kaže da nije Magdalena, ali nam ipak ne otkriva svoje ime). Njoj je ime zadenuo Jarac Mudrijaš, još jedan od likova iz ovog romana koji, zajedno sa Orfejem, živi na jednoj mansardi gde Orfej piše književno delo, delo koje se, imenovano istim nazivom Mansarda, bavi potpuno istim pitanjima, situacijama i likovima kao i Kišova Mansarda. Zbunili ste se? Sačekajte koji trenutak još.

Znate, Kiš je maestralan. Ko god da pomisli suprotno, drug mi nije. On tako veličanstveno uspe da zamrsi realnost i fikciju, da će se i sam čitalac pogubiti u tom razdvajanju priča, priče u priči ispričanoj pričom o priči. Eto, koliko ume da zapetlja sve, a da opet uživate dok čitate njegove redove. Ako se malo dublje zagledamo u ovu zapetljanciju, možemo primetiti nemali uticaj Fausta i čika Getea - Valpurgijsku noć i Mefista i to kristalno jasno poigravanje sa čitaocima. On se, ljudina, tako slatko ruga čitaocu, praveću satiričnu situaciju od svega. E sad, da li je išta od svega toga tačno? Ima li Orfeja, Igora, Euridike, ubistva deteta - da li je sve to fikcija, izmišljeni trenutak u trenucima trenutnosti ili fikcije u stvari i nema?

Možemo naširoko diskutovati i o žanrovskom određenju ovog njegovog prvenca, no, čovek nam sam reče: "Mansarda, ta "satirična poema", jeste gorki talog iskustva, no ona je pre jedna mladalačka poema, stilske vežbe na temu sanjarenja, i kao takva, kao ljubavna poema, mogla je biti banalna da nije bilo tog kontrapunkta..."

Mansarda govori o bedi, bolesti, jadu i potpunoj nemaštini. Govori o gubitku Euridike, gubitku onoga što najviše voli, o ženi koja postoji, a možda ipak i ne postoji. Ko će ga znati! Glavni pripovedač jeste Orfej, ali on ima gomilu drugih imena, a da ipak, na kraju, ne znamo ko je zapravo on. Vrlo je moguće da je Kiš sebe projektovao kroz svog junaka i delo, ali ni to ne možemo potvrditi. Možemo samo postavljati pitanje za pitanjem i u tim pitanjima se zapetljati kao što to čini Kiš sa našom svešću jer, mi ne znamo da li uopšte i postoje drugi likovi u romanu ili su oni proizvod piščeve halucinacije, možda nekog sna ili jednostavno, stvaralačke mašte.

Ovde ne postoji baš neko mesto predviđeno za ljubav. Pripovedač piše jer ga Euridika inspiriše, ali tu zapravo nema prave ljubavi. Ona obasjava zaliv Delfina...

Ako ste me išta razumeli, želećete da pročitate ovo delo. Ako, pak, niste, pročitajte - biće vam sve jasnije.

#preporuka
Profile Image for Sorin Hadârcă.
Author 3 books259 followers
February 23, 2015
The Beatnik response from the Balkans: vagabond humor and despair spoken from the attic. The novel disintegrates nicely at the end, Eurydice nowhere to be found. Or was she there already, found at the very beginning?
Profile Image for Jelena.
73 reviews21 followers
September 26, 2017
I tako je procitah jos jednom, dan za danom. Vuklo me opet nesto na tu mansardu da slusam zivotna i stvaralacka previranja mladog Kisa.
Tamo gore, na vrhu kamene zgrade na periferiji grada, blize zjezdama, dok pokusava da nadje odgovore na pitanja besmrtnosti duse, besmrtnosti seksa i niz drugih, otvara se pitanje ljubavi pred njegovim ocima, onog trenutka kad je ona, Euridika, sa dragocjenim baroknim tovarom, zakoračila prema meni hodom pripitomljene zvjeri.
Ali na stranu grljenje i valjanje po jesenjem liscu, najednom ipak bljesne pitanje da li je u stvari Euridika uopste postojala? Da li je ovo prikaz nekog plesa kroz paralelne svjetove ili se Euridika svodi samo na lik ove satiricne poeme? Ali ako ju je on sam opjevao i stvorio, kako da objasni njene cedulje koje je pronalazio? To je bio neki cudan rukopis sacinjen od slova “o” razbacanih po papiru, kao uzdah, kao suza, kao poljubac; sadrzaj koji se mogao tumaciti na toliko puno nacina, da je mozda i pogresno tumacenje jedne takve poruke poljuljalo stvarno postojanje mnogih fragmenata.
One veceri kad je postalo jasno da se Euridika vise nece vratiti, ma kom svijetu da je pripadala, zapisao je:
Agnosceo veteris vestigia flamme.
Oziljkom jednim obogacen.
Profile Image for Orbi Alter .
234 reviews54 followers
October 16, 2018
Jedino moje pitanje koje se postavilo nakon ovog "romana" je, za koga je on to tocno pisan? I koji je njegov smisao? Ili postupam krivo u startu, trazeci smisao u Kisu? Jel ovo boljka prvog romana ili sto? Ne mogu reci da mi ne sjeda njegov stil i patetika... Dapace, i zeljna sam jako neceg bliskog... Ali s druge strane, je?es stvarno roman uz koji ti treba sva sila knjizevno teorijskih knjiga da bi ti svojim kvazi interpretacijama skrenula paznju na kao neke stvari. Ili pricaj s mojom dusom ili produzi dalje :) Jako zbrkano, kaoticno iskustvo, nepovezano i bez duse. Samo je prosao kroz mene... steta
Profile Image for Gautam Bhatia.
Author 16 books972 followers
July 24, 2021
I loved A Tomb For Boris Davidovich, but The Attic felt very, very inaccessible (pun not intended!) - a glossary at the end hinted that there were a whole bunch of inter-textual references (especially to Serbian history and culture) that I was missing, so I think this is more of a me thing than the book thing.
Profile Image for Serhiy.
220 reviews117 followers
December 31, 2021
Ранній роман Кіша, надто дженджуристий текст, у своїх зрілих творах він буде стриманіший і цікавіший. Треба бути дуже юним, щоб таке писати чи читати.
Profile Image for Josh Friedlander.
832 reviews136 followers
October 26, 2014
A 20-something would-be intellectual hangs out with his philosophically-minded bro and falls in love with a disappearing girl ("Eurydice" to his code name "Orpheus", in one of many heavy-handed bits of signalling). Sort of a scattered, hipster Bildungsroman, though one replete with pomo flourishes that throw the narrative out of kilter (a dream-like trip to a "Bay of Dolphins", a four-freakin'-page quote from The Magic Mountain in French). It's an engaging, and occasionally beautiful, read, but by trying too hard to be cool, Kiš gives up the possibility of making a real creative breakthrough. He comes glowingly blurbed by William Gass and Susan Sontag, though, so I should probably get around at some point to his more mature work.
Profile Image for Kam.
400 reviews10 followers
August 12, 2013
What was promised in this book sounded great! I read one third of it and I didn't come across any of what was promised: a discussion of art, of writing.

Lots of cryptic stuff, references, Latin.

Felt self-indulgent. Or that I'm supposed to somehow be a member of some club to find the meaning of what was described in the introduction.
Profile Image for Eva Mar.
45 reviews10 followers
April 7, 2022
Danilo Kiš, autor serbio que no me ha dejado indiferente. Sus frases rozan el surrealismo y suben a la luna para convertir su luz en otra protagonista más; amores que se sueñan porque no existen o son tan reales que parecen sueños. Todo en _La buhardilla_ es fascinante, te atrapa como un abrazo y te deja con ganas de otro. Ha sido una suerte descubrirlo y un placer leerlo.
Profile Image for Elena.
70 reviews34 followers
January 16, 2016
Прекрасно! е недоволен збор да ја опишам книгава. Уживањето беше преголемо па одново ја зачитав.

„Имав впечаток дека низ прстите ѝ капе месечина.“
Profile Image for Arkadii Tkachuk.
91 reviews18 followers
January 9, 2021
Це той тип літератури, яка мені подобається попри те, що я не розумію її, принаймні не розумію до кінця. Текст подекуди дуже химерний: нагромадження образів, рефлексій, нашарування різних площин наррації... Але цим і захоплює повість; її варто перечитувати. Можливо, коли у мене закінчиться довгий період недовіри до химерних текстів, я таки її перечитаю. Зрештою, це ж Данило Кіш!

Хотілося б хоч десь висловити вдячність видавництву "П'яний корабель" за ошатне видання, хороший переклад і загалом - за наповнення високою літературою українського книжкового ринку.
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