Words Are Something Else

by David Albahari, Charles Simic (Foreword), Ellen Elias-Bursać (Translator)

David Albahari is one of the most prominent prose writers to come out of the former Yugoslavia in the last twenty years. His short stories, which developed largely outside the canon of Serbian literature, have influenced a generation of Balkan writers. This collection gathers Albahari's best and most important stories, moving from an early preoccupation with the family and Central European culture to metafictional searches for the roots of his identity.

Genres: Short Stories

215 pages, Paperback

First published August 12, 1996

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

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

still 5/5. when i first read it, i had underlined a lot of text in ballpoint pen. mostly the more nihilistic and edgier sounding stuff. its interesting to see what moved me as a 21 yr old reading this, and what touched me the most now.

[Robert Wechsler · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an early story collection that did not appear in this form in Serbo-Croatian. Most of the pieces are vignettes that involve Albahari’s family. The rest are, for the most part, postmodernist, very self-reflexive pieces about writing and about identity. The vignettes are well done, but didn't interest me. The postmodernism hasn’t aged that well, but a few of them are very well executed. Albahari hadn't found his style yet, but then, momentum is a style that seems hard to do in a short story.

I'm planning to read through Albahari's works in English translation. So far, I've read two novels, Leeches and Götz and Meyer, both of which I have great respect for and greatly enjoyed.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

6/5