Yolk: Short Stories

by Josip Novakovich

Written by a Croat writer in exile, this book incorporates themes of unrequited love, obsession, war, faith, displacement, and death rituals. Set primarily in Eastern Europe, the characters here touch on the universals of human experience, with disturbed characters, and decay and infirmity.

The burning clog --
Yahbo the hawk --
Yolk --
Apple --
Wool --
Rust --
Petrol and chocolate --
The eye of God --
The address --
Bricks --
A drop of cognac --
Darkened vision --
Dresden --
Turkish coffee --
Honey in the carcase --
Hats and veils --
Raw paper.

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Josip Novakovich (Croatian: Novaković) is a Croatian-American writer. His grandparents had immigrated from the Croatia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, to Cleveland, Ohio, and, after the First World War, his grandfather returned to what had become Yugoslavia. Josip Novakovich was born (in 1956) and grew up in the Central Croatian town of Daruvar, studied medicine in the northern Serbian city of Novi Sad. At the age of 20 he left Yugoslavia, continuing his education at Vassar College (B.A.), Yale University (M.Div.), and the University of Texas, Austin (M.A.).

He has published a novel (April Fool's Day), three short story collections (Yolk, Salvation and Other Disasters, Infidelities: Stories of War and Lust), two collections of narrative essays (Apricots from Chernobyl, Plum Brandy: Croatian Journey) and a textbook (Fiction Writer's Workshop).

Novakovich has taught at Nebraska Indian Community College, Bard College, Moorhead State University, Antioch University in Los Angeles, the University of Cincinnati, and is now a professor at Pennsylvania State University.

Mr. Novakovich is the recipient of the Whiting Writer's Award, a Guggenheim fellowship, two fellowships from the National Endowment of the Arts, an award from the Ingram Merrill Foundation, and an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation. He was anthologized in Best American Poetry, Pushcart Prize, and O.Henry Prize Stories.

He taught in the Master's of Fine Arts program at Pennsylvania State University, where he lived under the iron rule of Reed Moyer's Halfmoon Township autocracy. He is currently in Montreal, Quebec teaching at Concordia University.

Reviews

[Кремена Михайлова · Rating 3 out of 5]

„Оцелях от ножове и бомби – би трябвало да съм способен да оцелявам и от мисли и спомени.“

[Kaarin · Rating 5 out of 5]

my favorite quote from this book: "Travel is a form of vanishing, of nonexistence. It is the best substitute for suicide."

Damn, well said.

[Ivan Zelić · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disturbing

[Nadezhda Trichkova · Rating 3 out of 5]

Хубав, жив език и образи, които вълнуват.

"Оцелях от ножове и бомби - би трябвало да съм способен да оцелявам и от мисли и спомени".
~
"Подробностите разрушават красотата. Но могат също така да унищожат и грозотата. Под микроскоп една капка от плюнка се превръща в съзвездие от многоцветни създания, които танцуват сред безмълвна космическа хармония. (Разбира се, повечето от тях се опитват да се изкльопат едни други - един вид хармония.) Липсата на подробности изгражда около образа опрощаваща аура и го поставя отвъд красивото и грозното. Липсата на детайли замъглява собствените ми представи достатъчно, за да се справя с тях".
~
"Пътуването е форма на изчезване, на несъществуване. Това е най-добрият заместител на самоубийството".
~
"Продължавах да й пиша наум - обяснявах й на какви затруднения се е натъкнал копнежът ми по нея, а най-главното затруднение се състоеше в това, че бях изгубил надеждата си, а страстта си - не".

[Kirsten · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unsentimental linked stories set in Eastern Europe, including plenty of death, embarrassment, and the indignity and absurdity of being human. The narrator's voice reminded me of a Ukrainian friend of mine, who took the world's full measure and still managed to feel affection for it. Is there something in the Eastern European sensibility that is less squeamish about life's warts than the American sensibility? I think possibly.

There is also the pleasure of reading about characters who keep hawks, make clogs, and gather mushrooms, which I suppose *I* am sentimental about, but the author avoids sentimentality with a gently mocking humor.

[Natasha (Vasilly)]

*Recommended by Marie at Boston Bibliophile

[Alta]

one of the best books of short stories I read in recent years.

[Maria Stancheva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Разказите за уникални - силни, отлично написани, с интересен сюжет.
Изчетох ги на един дъх, просто всичко наоколо престана да съществува.

[Wheatie · Rating 4 out of 5]

a croatian fiction perspective..yes!