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Flashback Hotel
Two sought-after collections of short stories by Ivan Vladislavić are brought together and made available again in this new volume. Vladislavić’s abilities as a master of understatement and brevity are brilliantly demonstrated in these stories from Missing Persons (1989), for which he received the Olive Schreiner Prize, and Propaganda by Monuments and Other Stories (1996), featuring the two stories that won him the Thomas Pringle Award.
343 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 1, 2010
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About the author
Ivan Vladislavić
45 books75 followersIvan Vladislavić is a novelist, essayist and editor. He lives in Johannesburg where he is a Distinguished Professor in Creative Writing at the University of the Witwatersrand. His books include The Folly, The Restless Supermarket, Portrait with Keys and Double Negative. Among his recent publications are Flashback Hotel, a compendium of early stories; The Loss Library, a reflection on writing; and 101 Detectives, a collection of new short stories. He has edited volumes on architecture and art. His work has won several prizes, including the University of Johannesburg Prize, the Sunday Times Fiction Prize and the Alan Paton Award for non-fiction. In 2015, he was awarded the Windham-Campbell Prize for fiction by Yale University.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
November 7, 2018
Impressionistic, surreal, an examination of life in Cape Town under apartheid unlike any I've ever read before. Not always easy to read, and not for those who demand linear fiction.
November 22, 2018
When reviewing Ivan Vladislavić's latest collection of short stories words like surreal, absurd, bizarre, fantastical and weird immediately come to mind. In many of the stories you are placed in a world that has some recognisable elements of reality about it but one that also occupies the outer reaches of the imaginative mind. Vladislavic's forte is combining fantasy to historic events signifying meanings often but not exclusively defined within a post apartheid South African context.
He has a distinctive style and voice that can play around with concepts taking them at times to absurdist conclusions. You are never quite sure at what level of reality you are dealing with. It is has been stated that his work can be partly understood as a way of understanding and coming to terms with society around him and this can be seen through a number of the stories here.
I counted twenty two short stories here, all of variable length and each have a unique quality and individualism about them. I must admit that the two I most enjoyed were arguably two (to this reader anyway) of the more accessible ones being The Book Lover and "Kidnapped"
I fully admit that this may not be to everyone's taste and it certainly requires a degree of concentration by the reader as one concept interchanges with another and there is no certainty as to how the story will develop and end. If you are looking for straight forward narratives with neat conclusions with all the ends tied up this is not for you. But if you want to experience something different that will take you into territory occupied by the likes of Breton, Kafka and Ballard and are prepared to exercise your thought processes then I would recommend this.
He has a distinctive style and voice that can play around with concepts taking them at times to absurdist conclusions. You are never quite sure at what level of reality you are dealing with. It is has been stated that his work can be partly understood as a way of understanding and coming to terms with society around him and this can be seen through a number of the stories here.
I counted twenty two short stories here, all of variable length and each have a unique quality and individualism about them. I must admit that the two I most enjoyed were arguably two (to this reader anyway) of the more accessible ones being The Book Lover and "Kidnapped"
I fully admit that this may not be to everyone's taste and it certainly requires a degree of concentration by the reader as one concept interchanges with another and there is no certainty as to how the story will develop and end. If you are looking for straight forward narratives with neat conclusions with all the ends tied up this is not for you. But if you want to experience something different that will take you into territory occupied by the likes of Breton, Kafka and Ballard and are prepared to exercise your thought processes then I would recommend this.
October 3, 2013
Having been to South Africa recently, I wanted to get to know authors other than the country's Nobel Prize recipients. "Flashback Hotel" was one of my picks from a series of suggestions offered by a very helpful member of the staff at Book Lounge, a great bookstore in Cape Town.
I found this collection of two volumes of short stories daring and compelling. I particularly appreciate writers that are not solely concerned with plot development but rather allow style to play a part in their work, engaging themselves with the complexities of language as their literary matter. Authors that somehow develop a distinct voice and do not just follow a predetermined literary canon. Ivan Vladislavić is for me one of such creative minds, masterly dissolving content into form, as Susan Sontag claimed for. He experiments with language and thus renders the contention with reality more acutely. And it is further meaningful the sense of freedom of his literary approach if you consider South Africa's history; its shifting social and political context informs the stories, and these, in turn, can stimulate awareness and change, while asserting a difference in style. Considering the country's history is not surprising the strong element of the (re)writing of history and memory in this volume, and the author casts a different light on aspects relating to power, its structures and individual action.
His characters can appear derisory and at at the same time he can summon tenderness for them. They are faced with irreducibility in their worlds and struggle with the inevitability of loss, but still they can show resolve in their lives. Resorting to surreal elements in the narrative - be it actions or situations on themselves or juxtaposition of fragments with disregard to chronology or immediate connection - enhances the gap existing between ourselves and reality. Similarly, the fact that not all is fully explained indicates a gap between the reader and the stories, thus requiring us to deal with it, to bridge it.
Every time a book minimally challenges my presupposed comfortable place as a reader I try to read more of its author's work. In the case of Ivan Vladislavić, the desire is redoubled. Finding his books in Europe is not an easy task but I managed to order a couple of them. I am particularly looking forward to discover how did he deal with the different challenge of writing a novel.
I found this collection of two volumes of short stories daring and compelling. I particularly appreciate writers that are not solely concerned with plot development but rather allow style to play a part in their work, engaging themselves with the complexities of language as their literary matter. Authors that somehow develop a distinct voice and do not just follow a predetermined literary canon. Ivan Vladislavić is for me one of such creative minds, masterly dissolving content into form, as Susan Sontag claimed for. He experiments with language and thus renders the contention with reality more acutely. And it is further meaningful the sense of freedom of his literary approach if you consider South Africa's history; its shifting social and political context informs the stories, and these, in turn, can stimulate awareness and change, while asserting a difference in style. Considering the country's history is not surprising the strong element of the (re)writing of history and memory in this volume, and the author casts a different light on aspects relating to power, its structures and individual action.
His characters can appear derisory and at at the same time he can summon tenderness for them. They are faced with irreducibility in their worlds and struggle with the inevitability of loss, but still they can show resolve in their lives. Resorting to surreal elements in the narrative - be it actions or situations on themselves or juxtaposition of fragments with disregard to chronology or immediate connection - enhances the gap existing between ourselves and reality. Similarly, the fact that not all is fully explained indicates a gap between the reader and the stories, thus requiring us to deal with it, to bridge it.
Every time a book minimally challenges my presupposed comfortable place as a reader I try to read more of its author's work. In the case of Ivan Vladislavić, the desire is redoubled. Finding his books in Europe is not an easy task but I managed to order a couple of them. I am particularly looking forward to discover how did he deal with the different challenge of writing a novel.
September 10, 2020
A Lovely Selection
Short story collections are almost always a mixed bag of treats, but the stories in this book really span an exceptionally wide spectrum.
Don't be put off by the first few stories. They are absurd, surreal, and consist almost entirely of short sentences, floating clauses, and snippets of random observations. They were interesting enough to skim, but I feared that an entire double book collection of such postmodern fancy would exhaust my patience. Fortunately, the book settles down considerably from that point on. We still have the absurd and the surreal, and some arresting word play and action, but the narratives are less meta and experimental, and there is usually something coherent and pointed going on behind the scenes.
It's worth noting that almost all of the stories address, in one fashion or another, post-apartheid South Africa, and while it's always fairly clear what's going on, some familiarity with the details of South African politics and modern history would help the reader get the most out of the stories. On the other hand, for example, the bitterly amusing tale of museum bureaucrats searching for an "authentic" white's only bench for their post-apartheid museum is sly and funny no matter how little you know of the specifics of South African politics and political culture.
For what it's worth, my favorite story, "The Book Lover", is a charming and tender tale of a book collector's obsession with searching book sales and book shops in order to collect all of the hand me down books distributed from a mysterious woman's apparently dissolved personal library. He follows bookmarks, photos, and other ephemera that he finds left over or tucked into various volumes in his search for the mysterious source. In this story we abandon the surreal and the overtly political and just have an opportunity to enjoy a carefully crafted tale of the different forms of love and desire.
So, an interesting collection for sure, with a bit of something for everyone, and many happy possibilities.
(Please note that I received a free ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)
Short story collections are almost always a mixed bag of treats, but the stories in this book really span an exceptionally wide spectrum.
Don't be put off by the first few stories. They are absurd, surreal, and consist almost entirely of short sentences, floating clauses, and snippets of random observations. They were interesting enough to skim, but I feared that an entire double book collection of such postmodern fancy would exhaust my patience. Fortunately, the book settles down considerably from that point on. We still have the absurd and the surreal, and some arresting word play and action, but the narratives are less meta and experimental, and there is usually something coherent and pointed going on behind the scenes.
It's worth noting that almost all of the stories address, in one fashion or another, post-apartheid South Africa, and while it's always fairly clear what's going on, some familiarity with the details of South African politics and modern history would help the reader get the most out of the stories. On the other hand, for example, the bitterly amusing tale of museum bureaucrats searching for an "authentic" white's only bench for their post-apartheid museum is sly and funny no matter how little you know of the specifics of South African politics and political culture.
For what it's worth, my favorite story, "The Book Lover", is a charming and tender tale of a book collector's obsession with searching book sales and book shops in order to collect all of the hand me down books distributed from a mysterious woman's apparently dissolved personal library. He follows bookmarks, photos, and other ephemera that he finds left over or tucked into various volumes in his search for the mysterious source. In this story we abandon the surreal and the overtly political and just have an opportunity to enjoy a carefully crafted tale of the different forms of love and desire.
So, an interesting collection for sure, with a bit of something for everyone, and many happy possibilities.
(Please note that I received a free ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)
November 23, 2018
Wavering between a half, and a strong four stars, I'll give this three and a bit.
I certainly enjoyed the first story in this collection, which proved a militaristic father could find an inventive use for a wheelbarrow when a big parade hits town. But the next two really knocked me for six, and in a bad way – they were dreadful; pompous, meaningless and really stylised beyond all understanding. Luckily, then, I was back on track with the next two – a garden wall getting built from the point of view of a neighbourly curtain-twitcher doesn't sound much, but a couple's response to their prime minister was even more fun. This author, then, seemed to have an unusual, witty and inventive take on his country, or at least any country where things just didn't seem to be as efficient, friendly and with-it as it should – and, with a lead character whose hands burst into endless flame that only he can see, some rare form of magical realism. In the longer sophomore effort, also here, we see the country is definitely RSA – and this is more meaty, clearer and clearly South African stuff. For once, we learn whether people are whites or not, when it might have helped our understanding of the first book's stories but weren't even told. Oh, and even the public benches can be black or white, of course. Here among these stories we do get works that weren't to my liking, but mostly that was due to high-falutin' characters and vocab, and much more seldomly because of weird ideas of form. Slightly high-falutin' is the book buyer who becomes fixated with one previous owner, in a story that could belong to absolutely anywhere; stories concerning civic statues apply universally; but we close with a piece that at least mentions African specifics (almost, though, in apology) – it again could be set anywhere, showing the way the author matured into something really very readable over two collections of short stories. Worth considering, but the hit/miss ratio is low, and those misses really miss the target completely at times.
I certainly enjoyed the first story in this collection, which proved a militaristic father could find an inventive use for a wheelbarrow when a big parade hits town. But the next two really knocked me for six, and in a bad way – they were dreadful; pompous, meaningless and really stylised beyond all understanding. Luckily, then, I was back on track with the next two – a garden wall getting built from the point of view of a neighbourly curtain-twitcher doesn't sound much, but a couple's response to their prime minister was even more fun. This author, then, seemed to have an unusual, witty and inventive take on his country, or at least any country where things just didn't seem to be as efficient, friendly and with-it as it should – and, with a lead character whose hands burst into endless flame that only he can see, some rare form of magical realism. In the longer sophomore effort, also here, we see the country is definitely RSA – and this is more meaty, clearer and clearly South African stuff. For once, we learn whether people are whites or not, when it might have helped our understanding of the first book's stories but weren't even told. Oh, and even the public benches can be black or white, of course. Here among these stories we do get works that weren't to my liking, but mostly that was due to high-falutin' characters and vocab, and much more seldomly because of weird ideas of form. Slightly high-falutin' is the book buyer who becomes fixated with one previous owner, in a story that could belong to absolutely anywhere; stories concerning civic statues apply universally; but we close with a piece that at least mentions African specifics (almost, though, in apology) – it again could be set anywhere, showing the way the author matured into something really very readable over two collections of short stories. Worth considering, but the hit/miss ratio is low, and those misses really miss the target completely at times.
January 12, 2019
Ivan Vladislavic is a new author to me. I had never heard of him, and he was most definitely a surprise. This collection of short stories, a combination of two previously released collections, is incredible in scope and breadth. The stories range between sort of straight-forward psychological fiction, like "The Prime Minister is Dead", "The Book Lover" and "The Firedogs" to the magical realism of stories like, "The Box," where a man grabs the Prime Minister through his television and so now the PM is missing and he has a 6 inch tall version of him running around the house, and "When My Hands Burst Into Flames," which is just how it sounds. There are some stories that I could not get into but there are more that just blew me away.
The thing with the collection is that it is time consuming. The reading is slower than normal, and there are a few stories that I had to just slog my way through. However the majority of the time, I was captured by these stories, and Vladislavic does not give any indication as to where his stories are going to end. They are not predictable at all, and this kept my interest even though some of the reading is very slow. Even when I did not really get into the story, I enjoyed the writing and structures. He is one of those authors that you want to hang onto every word he writes, even if you aren't too interested in what he is saying. This quality is so rare I can only think of a handful of other authors that possess this talent. As it is, I will be looking for more of Ivan Vladislavic's work in the future.
I received this as an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
The thing with the collection is that it is time consuming. The reading is slower than normal, and there are a few stories that I had to just slog my way through. However the majority of the time, I was captured by these stories, and Vladislavic does not give any indication as to where his stories are going to end. They are not predictable at all, and this kept my interest even though some of the reading is very slow. Even when I did not really get into the story, I enjoyed the writing and structures. He is one of those authors that you want to hang onto every word he writes, even if you aren't too interested in what he is saying. This quality is so rare I can only think of a handful of other authors that possess this talent. As it is, I will be looking for more of Ivan Vladislavic's work in the future.
I received this as an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
May 27, 2019
Never come across Ivan Vladislavic before so this was a wonderful introduction. The stories in this collection range from the absurd to the downright bizarre and their often predictable in their unpredictability. It also helped that Vladislavic is a rather gifted writer and his prose is a genuine pleasure to read.
While a couple of the stories didn't quite hit the mark, which is to be expected within a short story collection, I honestly can't say there was a bad one in here.
Recommended.
With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc.
While a couple of the stories didn't quite hit the mark, which is to be expected within a short story collection, I honestly can't say there was a bad one in here.
Recommended.
With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc.
February 11, 2021
Pretty cool collection, some of the descriptions, and turns of phrase are unforgettable. There were also plenty of fantastical scenes and situations that kept me entranced, and also kept a smile on my face as I read. However, there were a few stories I am sure to go back to, just to figure out what the hell was going on. Plenty of local context will appeal to anyone interested in the recent history of South Africa.
May 2, 2019
With a combination of Barthelmean absurdity, Borgesian obsessiveness, and a musicality that, frankly, neither of them possessed, this collection had me chuckling, scratching my head, and going "Hmm" from start to finish.
March 18, 2020
I really liked the stories, The Prime Minister is Dead, Journal of a Wall, The Box and Courage.
July 27, 2021
Wanted to love this just couldn’t get into but a few of the stories.
December 29, 2023
Some really beautiful moments, a bit surreal, made me think, occasionally disturbing and/or haunting.
August 7, 2024
A collection of short stories, many of which went over my head...but the one about the search for books once owned by a certain woman was worth the price of admission. Mesmerising!
December 14, 2010
This volumes combines two previously published collections of short stories, Missing Persons (1990) and Propaganda by Monuments and Other Stories (1996). The significance of these books is how they bookend the beginning of the end of apartheid, and the end of that era with the election of Nelson Mandela as President. The stories contained demonstrate Vladislavic's skill of indirect critique of social realities (most obvious being the Bantu policies of the Nationalist party) and a 'world turned inside out' perspective of life in South Africa. Clever and witty, the short stories of this volume seek to destabilize our notions of childhood, question our historical convictions, and provide characters so surreal that the reader comes away with a fresh appreciation for the narrative that defines and shapes our own lives.
March 2, 2013
If Goodreads permitted 6 stars, I'd award them. I'm a big Ivan V fan. Wildly imaginative short stories - sometimes surreal - he sees South Africa through different Ivan-tinted eyes. His stories remind me of crystal shards - glittering refractions of light striking off the glass. Rave, rave, rave .... go forth & buy this book!
June 18, 2015
Ivan V, dry and lush as always
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews