Balkan Blues: Writing Out of Yugoslavia

by Joanna Labon (Editor)

This collection first appeared as a special issue of Storm, the British literary journal of new eastern European writing. Joanna Labon has selected excellent, timely essays, stories, drama, and prose by exiled or silenced members of the Yugoslav intelligentsia.

Dubravka Ugrešić, Bogdan Bogdanović, Dragan Velikić, Danilo Kiš, Drago Jančar, Mirko Kovač, Goran Stefanovski, Dževad Karahasan, and Slobodan Blagojević.

268 pages, Paperback

First published October 25, 1995

Reviews

[Ashley Cale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful.

There's essays and short stories about the city, family, culture, war, sexuality, etc. What's not to love about this? The only sort of discordant note I can ring is the feeling that it will not be everyone's cup of tea. But if you're curious, haunted, and want to read not just literature *about* but *by,* read this.

A thought-provoking look at nationalism, imagined communities, and the politics of memory.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

An excellent sampling of stories from the former Yugoslavia. I read it is an introduction to contemporary writers from Eastern Europe. A wonderful look into a part of Europe torn apart by war. The stories concerning Sarajevo are particularly compelling.

[Kristina R · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent collection of Balkan literature. Among my favorite pieces was the final entry, an absurdist play by a Macedonian writer about the siege of Sarajevo.