Learning Cyrillic: Stories

by David Albahari, Ms Ellen Elias-Bursac (Translator)

"Learning Cyrillic" presents a selection of fiction by Serbian master David Albahari written since his departure from Europe. In these twenty short stories, written and published in their original language over the past twenty years, Albahari addresses immigrant life--the need to fit into one's adopted homeland--as well as the joys and terrors of refusing to give up one's essential "strangeness" in the face of an alien culture.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

189 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

David Albahari (Serbian Cyrillic: Давид Албахари, pronounced [dǎv̞id albaxǎːriː] was a Serbian writer. Albahari wrote mainly novels and short stories. He was also a highly accomplished translator from English into Serbian.
Albahari was awarded the prestigious NIN Award for the best novel of 1996 for Mamac (Bait). He was a member of SANU (Serbian Academy Of Sciences And Arts).

Reviews

[Tuck · Rating 5 out of 5]

i hereby declare albahari an official member of topor-hrabal land. three cheers hey. hah, i'm sure he'd be thrilled.
thought provoking short stories, many dealing with partners grousing at each other, or looking dreamily out the window. dealing with wwii fallout, being emigrant in israel, being neighbors with serbians, talking to girls.

[Elaine Aldred · Rating 4 out of 5]

Learning Cyrillic is a series of explorations of the world from the perspective of a set of eccentric characters who are operating under their own set of rules, or becoming increasingly out of step with the rest of life. In some cases they embrace the fact they are different, or find frustration at others inability to appreciate what is, to their minds, a logical way of behaving.
Outwardly the stories would appear to be about immigrants finding it difficult to adapt to a new country. But the stories could equally well apply to anyone experiencing problems fitting in with their own culture, because they do not conform.
None of the stories are casual reads, even though some of them lull a reader into a false sense of security with their apparent simplicity. Some may frustrate on the first read, because they require a great deal of concentration to extract everything from them. This is because the concepts Albahari explores are often convoluted and give off a sense of looping back on themselves, if you take your eye off them for a moment, so can be very confusing or opaque.
It is because the stories are commentaries on the human condition stretched and moulded into something quite strange, the reader has a sense of Kafka standing over their shoulder observing the whole process with great interest.

[World Literature Today]

This book was featured in the Nota Benes section of the Sept/Oct 2015 issue of World Literature Today Magazine.

http://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/2...

[Miguel · Rating 2 out of 5]

More Kundera than Kafka.

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the fringe benefits of commuting regularly by train is the opportunity it offers to indulge in some distraction free, and reasonably regular, reading. For the last couple of weeks, I have immersed myself in this collection of short stories. Stories that, in their simplicity, which belies their complexity, talk to the reader about what it means to 'be', what it is to be conscious. If I really knew what the word meant, I would perhaps use the word existentialist in conjunction with this collection. However, as I am lucky enough to count a real life existentialist as a friend, it may be inadvisable to draw that comparison. But, this book does draw you in and make you think. Deeply.

This line 'one can stay unchanged in a city only so long', from The Scent of the Other Side, lingers with me as it refers to a city that had such an effect on me, Belgrade.

Each story has a simple idea at its centre, the fact that the denouement of each seems a surprise despite the (subliminal) signposting throughout only adds to its power.

[Mandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of short stories from Serbian writer David Albahari focusses on the experience of emigration, something Albahari understands from first-hand experience as he moved to Canada in 1994 and now lives and works there. He understands how important it is to fit in whilst retaining a sense of national identity and how that identity is hard to pass on the children. The difficulties of adjusting to a foreign culture, the sense of loss and loneliness, the longing for home – these are all touched upon here, but although I enjoyed many of them, on the whole none of them really stood out for me and I was left feeling rather unsatisfied, especially with some of the shorter ones and those that don’t seem to come to any real conclusion. I found the stories competent rather than particularly moving or striking, and they didn’t make a great impression on me.

[Krys · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely. Simple enough on the surface to read on my commute to and from work (it's short) but actually quite deep; images and scenarios that keep me thinking throughout the day.

[iitu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple but deep, absurd and funny. Makes you wanna underline sentences.