If I Only Had Time

by Evald Flisar, David Lemon (Translator)

Obserwator

280 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Evald Flisar, born in 1945 in Slovenia, then still part of Yugoslavia, is an iconic figure of contemporary Slovenian literature. Novelist, playwright, essayist, editor, globe-trotter (travelled in 98 countries), underground train driver in Sydney, Australia, editor of (among other publications) an encyclopaedia of science and invention in London, author of short stories and radio plays for the BBC, president of the Slovene Writers’ Association (1995 – 2002), since 1998 editor of the oldest Slovenian literary journal Sodobnost (Contemporary Review), he is also the author of 16 novels (eleven of them short-listed for kresnik, the Slovenian “Booker”), two collections of short stories, three travelogues, two books for children (both nominated for major awards) and 15 stage plays (eight nominated for Best Play of the Year Award, three times won the award). Winner of Prešeren Foundation Prize, the highest state award for prose and drama, and the prestigious Župančič Award for lifetime achievement. Various works of his have been translated into 40 languages, among them Bengali, Hindi, Malay, Nepalese, Malayalam, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Turkish, Greek, Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, Czech, Albanian, Lithuanian, Dutch, Icelandic, Romanian, Amharic, Russian, English, German, Italian, Spanish, etc. His stage plays are regularly performed all over the world, most recently in Austria, Egypt, India (three different production in two months alone), Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan, Serbia, Bosnia, Belarus, USA and Mexico. Attended more than 50 literary readings and festivals on all continents. Lived abroad for 20 years (three years in Australia, 17 years in London). Since 1990 he lives in Ljubljana, Slovenia. His novel My Father’s Dreams, published in 2005 by Texture Press in New York and in 2015 by Istros Books in London, UK, has earned him a place at the European Literature Night, an annual event at the British Library that features 6 of the best contemporary European writers. Another of his novels, On the Gold Coast (published in English by Sampark, Kolkata, India and nominated for the Dublin International Literary Award) was listed by The Irish Times as one of 13 best novels about Africa written by Europeans, alongside Joseph Conrad, Graham Greene, Isak Dinesen, JG Ballard, Bruce Chatwin and other great literary names. In June/July 2015 he completed a three-week literary tour of USA, reading at the Congress Library in Washington and SUA convention in Chicago, attending the performance of his play Antigone Now at the Atlas Performing Arts Center in Washington, speaking at the Slovene Permanent Mission at the United Nations ... In January 2016 he was one of the speakers at the largest literary festival in the world (Jaipur, India), together with Margaret Atwood, Colm Toibin, Colin Thubron, Aleksander Hemon, Stephen Fry and other illustrious names. Following the publication of his novel Three Loves, One Death in England, he attended promotional events in London, Bristol and Dublin. In January 2017 he spent three weeks touring India, lecturing at three renowned institutions (National School of Drama in New Delhi, Rabindranath Tagore University in Kolkata, Malayalam University in Kerala), attending productions of two of his plays in Bengali and promoting translations of three of his books in Kerala, Bangalore and Kolkata. One of the best-organised promotional events in his literary career was the eight-day promotion of two of his novels in Polish translation in May 2017 (Warsaw, Katowice and Krakow). New productions of his plays are due in India, Indonesia and Mexico. In 2018 he presented the German translation of his novel Words Above the Clouds in Berlin and the English translation of his novel A Swarm of Dust in the European House in London. His international success is truly astonishing: speakers of languages into which his works have so far been translated represent half of the world’s population.

Reviews

[zosia · Rating 1 out of 5]

dnf, fizycznie nie dam rady doczytać tego do końca
naprawdę tu wszystko tragiczne
co to jest, to jest tak absurdalne, im sori ale napisane tez jest maskrycznie,nic się nie klei… nie wiem co to za uniwersum , nie umiem znaleźć w tej książce nic dobrego i musze to odlozyc bo wzdrygam sie do drugie zdanie… co tam sie dzialo XD tego sie nie da opisac
no cóż, pozwólcie ze zalicze sobie tę książkę ze wzgledu 40% męki jakie z nią przeszłam, a zaufajcie nic by sie nie zmienilo bo to jest tak odklejone ze hej

[Zuzia Kwaśniak · Rating 2 out of 5]

Najgorsza książka jaką czytałam.

[Alexandra Dav · Rating 1 out of 5]

1,5✨

N-am avut așteptări când am început-o, dar, chiar și așa, nu pot să zic că mi-a plăcut sau că aș reciti-o cândva.

Ce a fost pe gustul meu: începutul și ideea originală; analizele pe diverse teme tare bine scrise, pe care le-am și subliniat; niște jocuri de cuvinte; îmbinarea unor aspecte ale literaturii cu povestea; coperta.

Ce nu mi-a plăcut: execuția, pentru că am pornit de la o intrigă și am ajuns la total altceva; acțiunea care nu mi-a ținut trează curiozitatea, fiind destul de plată și fără evenimente captivante; scrierea la persoana a III-a nu mi-a oferit șansa de a mă atașa de personaje; personajele de umplutură; acțiunea care a fost extrem de lungită; multe detalii irelevante; finalul; povestea romance care a fost grăbită și parcă venită de nicăieri; coincidențele la tot pasul; faptul că am terminat-o și am rămas cu întrebări.

Menționez că, după vreo 150 de pagini, mi-am pierdut răbdarea și n-am știut cum să o termin mai repede. Poate, dacă o citeam într-o altă perioadă, mi-ar fi plăcut, dar acum nu a fost cazul.

[Denis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting beginning and development of the action. The finale was somewhat slurred...

[Dicky Akbar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is an interesting book, especially from the beginning and middle to end. But, the ending area is kind of out of place for the entirety of the plot itself, it feels anti-climactic. Yet, it's understandable and makes sense if you understand the entirety of itself. It's a dream-like story, full of depth, and just like real life, we don't write our life, the life itself that wrote us...

It's the "Irony" that's one word that I use to describe this whole story.

[Gheorghiu Tudor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting story. I think it's the story of so many young people nowadays that can't find their role in society and somehow resort to live in their inner dreamy world. The book is very thrilling with so many unexpected events.

[Amarnath · Rating 3 out of 5]

Build up was nice but the ending didn't work for me.

[Sabina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it, totally one of my favorites. It was magnificent, perfect, complete, deep. I hope everyone has a chance to read it. It is really worth it!

[Maja Ina Ruparcic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trippy

[Neeraj Katoch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book #18 of #passthebook_on initiative is #evaldflisar

If I Only Had Time

Lost in the imaginary landscapes of novels and films, 22-year-old Simon Bebler learns that he is terminally ill and has at best a year to live. Now the young student wants to cram everything life has to offer into this radically reduced lifespan. Inclined to see himself in the roles of fictional heroes, he begins to live out all the stories he has read or seen on film and experience every mental and physical state a man can experience—good and bad, moral and immoral. He refuses to die feeling he has been robbed of life, so he decides to enact it with real dramatic suspense. But once the drama is set up, it quickly escapes his control and he is faced with the question of whether he can remain the hero of his adventures or sooner or later become their victim. He finds himself amidst unusual happenings in New York where he meets extraordinary people, among them Al Pacino, Woody Allen, Uma Thurman... Are they real or simply doppelgängers? The narrative merry-go-round of this philosophical thriller poses questions faster than Flisar’s characters can handle, let alone answer... Evald Flisaris a Slovene writer, poet, playwright, editor and translator. He was president of the Slovene Writers' Association for three consecutive terms between 1995 and 2002 and is editor-in-chief of the literary and cultural magazine Sodobnost.

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[Urh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Flisar in Auster. Flisar je v tej knjigi vse spravil v tako redukcijo, da se ti cela ameriška kultura do konca zagnusi, še bolj se pa zagnusiš samemu sebi, da si televizijo sploh uvedel v svoje življenje takrat, ko si bil majhen in so vsi vedeli, da je televizija nekaj novega in dobrega in videoteka kul. Meni je to odlična knjiga, včasih se zdi nekako kot film Pornofilm, včasih pa hujše.