Escher's Loops

by Zoran Živković, Alice Copple-Tošić (Translator)

Once again Zivkovic demonstrates the sheer power of storytelling in this complex cycle of interlocking narratives. Like one of Escher's drawings, the narrative threads lead one through a dizzying labyrinth of recurring themes, images and characters, all of whom are linked with elegant mathematical God and suicide, food and poison, monks, athletes, soldiers and soccer players all take their places in the circle-dance. Absurdity, surreality and humour abound; death is the ultimate destiny, yet always the next story offers infinite ways of escape.

Genres: Fiction, Fantasy, Collections, Serbian Literature

325 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Zoran Živković was born in Belgrade, former Yugoslavia, in 1948. In 1973 he graduated from the Department of General Literature with the theory of literature, Faculty of Philology of the University of Belgrade; he received his master's degree in 1979 and his doctorate in 1982 from the same school. He lives in Belgrade, Serbia, with his wife Mia, who is French, and their twin sons Uroš and Andreja. He teaches Creative Writing at the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Philology. He's received plenty of awards, one of them being the World Fantasy Award for Best Novella (The Library, 2003).

Reviews

[Glenn Russell]

Zoran Živković acknowledges the complexity in Escher's Loops requires a very attentive and patient reader. The Serbian author goes on to say, "I tried to do in fiction what Escher did in his paradoxical weird drawings."

Indeed, we read about men and women along with the stories those men and women tell about men and women and the stories those men and women tell about men and women and the stories those men and women tell, all swirling, looping, stepping and interlocking as if alternately in an Escher tessellation or Escher spiral or walking on an Escher stairway. Fortunately, we don't have to keep names straight as characters are identified strictly by occupation - several from the list: lawyer, dentist, mailman, undertaker, butcher.







In terms of structure, Escher's Loops is 350-pages divided into four parts: The First Loop, The Second Loop, The Third Loop and The Fourth Loop. Each loop contains nine chapters. The Second Loop is longer than The First Loop, The Third Loop is longer than the Second Loop and, at 175-pages, The Fourth Loop comprises half the book; in other words, The Fourth Loop is exactly the same length as The First Loop, The Second Loop and The Third Loop combined. I suspect you can guess why there's good reason for the progressively longer length of each successive loop. That's right - elements from the previous loop or loops are reintroduced and recombined as we move through the loops.

Does this sound like a good bit of mathematical precision? Yes, of course, it does. However, let me quickly add, each and every story in Escher's Loops contains the simplicity and charm found in the author's other novels. By way of example, we can begin by taking a look at the actual stories within the first chapters of The First Loop.

Chapter 1: A surgeon is about to enter an operating room where he’s urgently needed but halts in front of the double glass door. A powerful memory roots him to the spot. Those who know something of the surgeon’s life would assume he is recalling the one stain on his career - years ago, in this very operating room, he left a pair of surgical tweezers inside a young woman. However, this is not the case. The surgeon is recalling a much less dramatic incident: despite the fact he hates going to weddings, he attended a colleague’s wedding where the ceremony was delayed due to the absence of the priest. An uneasy tension pervaded the church until, in her agitation, the bride stamped her foot on the stone floor. All fell silent and the bride turned and glared at him, a glare the surgeon interpreted as a military order. He nearly ran to the back of the church where he discovered the priest alone in his office standing straight at attention, cue in hand, rooted to the spot next to a pool table. If he knew the priest better, he would have assumed the priest was recollecting the traumatic memory of being overcome by terrible stage fright during his first wedding ceremony. But this is not the case. The priest is recalling a much different memory.

Chapter 2: The priest’s memory: Our man of the cloth remembers an incident at a theater he attended regularly where he developed a keen interest in watching a particular actress. In the middle of a run of one play, the actress was struck dumb and stood motionless on the stage. The audience’s discomfiture at the unexplained gap was palpable. Suddenly, the priest popped up from his seat and began vigorously applauding. A moment thereafter, the audience joined in. The sound of the audience’s thundering applauds jolted the actress out of her trance and the play proceeded without a hitch. In the days thereafter, everyone assumed the actress’s momentary lapse was caused by the empty seat in the front row that evening. They supposed she was in a romantic relationship with a handsome young man who usually occupied the seat.

Chapter 3: But all were mistaken – what completely threw the actress off was recalling a traumatic memory: as a little girl she watched as firefighters fought a terrible blaze that engulfed a two-story house in her neighborhood. A terrified old woman appeared at a window in an attic. A ladder promptly swung over from one of the fire trucks and a beefy firefighter quickly climbed the ladder to haul the woman down, all to the cheers of the crowd. But then, amidst the flames, the firefighter climbed the ladder a second time, entered the window and rescued a parrot. Third time up and the tension mounts: there's a delay after he entered the attic. Finally, he emerged but halfway down the ladder the firefighter halted as if frozen. The crowd turned their heads away since the building was about to collapse in flame, meaning certain death for the firefighter. But the little girl started to sing. At that very instant, the firefighter snapped out of it and, just in the nick of time, quickly climbed down to safety. His fellow firefighters thought the little chest he was carrying down the ladder was to blame, a chest that prompted the firefighter to think back to an incident when he was a lighthouse keeper and discovered a mysterious chest. But the firefighters were wrong. It was an entirely different memory.

Clicking into the author's storytelling rhythm, we are not at all surprised when the next chapter begins with that fateful memory in the firefighter's past.

Let's pause here and recount a key idea behind Escher art: intricate fitting together and repetition of complex figures in elaborate patterns. By what I've noted above, one can easily detect several patterns emerging: characters stunned into recalling a powerful past memory, others' misattribution of the memory, and, as a literary grand finale, the memory leading into another story.

And this is only The First Loop! The Second Loop introduces sets of two people confined in a small space - to take one example: a lawyer and older gentleman wearing a Frosty the Snowman costume trapped in an elevator when the power goes out. What to do? Tell stories, of course! And the stories in The Second Loop include men and women from The First Loop pausing to engage in conversations with God.

The Third Loop both introduces new characters and cycles back to men and women now familiar to a reader. Additionally, two new twists are added: suicide attempts and the appearance of an elderly woman in a green coat and matching pillbox hat and shoes who has her own tales to tell of attempted suicide. Finally, in The Fourth Loop, we have the characters reappearing in different roles and unexpected activities and more generous helpings of Zoran Živković storytelling magic so imaginative it boarders on the impossible, reminding a reader of the art of - of course, M.C. Escher!


Serbian author Zoran Živkovic, born 1948

[Tijana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Baš mi ne leži ovo ocenjivanje zvezdicama. Lepo reče neko od čitalaca, Živković piše za trojku (dodala bih: jedva) a koncept mu je za peticu.
Koncept je zbilja... sjajan, u najboljem OULIPO maniru ulančavanja neverovatnih i naizgled nepovezanih događaja i opsesivnog ponavljanja motiva, i trebalo je i dovitljivosti i strpljenja i upornosti da se to izgura. U srpskoj književnosti, osobito najnovijoj, to je retko ko kokošiji zubi. I samo zato viša ocena.
Ali Živković piše... eh... dosadno, apsolutno bezbojno, kao književni ekvivalent plemenitim gasovima - bez boje, ukusa i mirisa - i dok ga to očigledno čini idealnim za uspeh u prevodu jer se ništa ne gubi, ni stil ni kulturnospecifične reference kojih neeemaaaa, rezultat je retko siva proza. O banalnim dijalozima (posebno u poslednjoj, najslabijoj petlji) da ne počinjem.
I tako... Živković je idealan za neku adaptaciju, za strip, film, radio, samo da se dovede neko ko će tu savršenu betonsku konstrukciju malo da oboji...

[Liviu · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very interesting book with a well thought structure but with one major flaw: it overstays its welcome and becomes tedious in the 4th loop which at about 150 pages is about as long as the previous 3 together and could have done cut in half.

A bunch of characters all described by the generic name of their profession at some point (they all change professions sometimes more than once due to the strange happenings recounted throughout the book) in interlocking events that refer one another throughout the book creating self-referencing loops.

Loop 1 - double strange event - main character of each part does something strange and onlookers think it is because of earlier strange (public) event said character was involved into, but actually it is because of something that happened at a different time and only the character knows about, event that segues into the next character tale and of course looping back at the end

Loop 2 - pairs enclosed into small locked space - here each part consists of a pair of characters enclosed into a small dark locked space (elevator, barrel, capsule etc...) due to some outside mischance (electricity cut, tidal wave, etc) and talking about strange things to pass the time until being rescued, allowed out etc - of course story segues into story and all refer to events in loop 1

Loop 3 - suicide watch - main character had once upon a time an impulse to commit suicide but not the means at hand and it reoccurs now with the means ready, but elderly lady comes and talks them out and continues the story only to of course loop back; again references to loops 2 and 3

Loop 4 - in each part, characters from Loops 1-3 appear in diverse roles (concert, plane, sports events.) and talk about their experience to the lady of Loop 3; last part brings more clarity and of course loops back, and a metaphorical view of the book as a whole could be glimpsed by the end, but as mentioned this loop is way too long and becomes tedious after a while

A 4 1/2 star book with lots of stuff worth inside

[Ronald Morton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mostly a three star story with a four star gimmick. As it's well pulled off I'll tip it to a four star review.

Not much to say here - the book is made up of four interlaced narrative loops that build on each other. There's unfortunately not a lot of story but it manages to be interesting for most of the book, though it lags a bit by the end.

It's smart though, and it shows an author who is okay with experimenting with narrative structure.

Not exactly recommended, but a neat curiosity nevertheless.

[Djordje Jakovljevic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eshrerove petlje su mi uhvatile pažnju odmah na početku kada sam shvatio na koji način su priče povezane između sebe. Njihova isprepletenost, kao svojevrsni pripovedački ekperiment, zaista je impresivna, a svaka naredna nit ili čvor koji je Živković ispletao bili su potpuno nepredvidivi.
Kako je knjiga odmicala, priče su, doduše, gubile na dinamičnosti i pomalo su mi delovale nategnuto, pa mi je početni entuzijazam malo splasnuo. Ali piščev sarkazam i stil nije izbledeo ni u jednom trenutku, tako da je knjiga i dalje bila zabavna.
Poprilično različito iskustvo od onog koje sam imao sa „Četvrtim krugom“ kod kog mi je zainteresovanost samo rasla kako sam se bližio kraju.
Ipak „Esherove petlje“ predstavljaju jedno jako zanimljivo iskustvo, sa vrlo inventivnim konceptom, a pogotovo veštinom kojom je taj koncept sproveden u delo.

[Vladimir · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesantna ideja, bilo je zanimljivo potruditi se da se povezu razni likovi i dogadjaji tokom citanja. Medjutim, cetvrta petlja je oduzena, te mi je malo ublazila celokupni utisak o knjizi. Bilo je momenata koji su mi delovali isforsirano, ne bi li se geometrija uklopila. Takodje, ocekivao sam razresenje nekih "misterija".

[Jai Lau · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is not often that a work of fiction can make you feel completely stupid, yet be grateful for the experience. There are times that as a reader, you simply want to put the book down and applaud due to just how fastidious Živković is in his storytelling. He sets out with a clear concept in mind, as the title suggests, and sticks with it all the way through 326 pages of characters previously forgotten, reappearing in the scenarios of others. Some of the situations are absurd, such as the pharmacist's assistant in a barrel of cough syrup, the long jumper who showers everywhere and a saxophonist staying overnight in a hotel room's refrigerator but amazingly, they all fit in with each loop's recurring theme, be that talking to God or trying to commit suicide. Seriously good writing.

[Jason Lundberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

A narrative constructed as a fractal Moebius strip, which defies story conventions to incredible effect. Divided into four loops, the book explores the lives and dreams of a number of unnamed characters (described only by their jobs), with stories embedded within and intersecting with others to provide snapshots adding up to a mysterious whole. A remarkable undertaking which manages to examine the mystery and importance of memory and dreams.

[Jelena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Neobicna knjiga, kako i ocekujemo od ovog autora, i potpuno ispunjeno obecanje iz naslova. Procitala sam je malo 'na misice', nisam uzivala koliko u Cetvrtom krugu, na primer, ali mislim da cu je citati ponovo, ovog puta uz veliki papir za beleske, da bih uspela da povezem sve reference, i mozda bolje shvatim sta je poenta.

[Milan Kovačević · Rating 2 out of 5]

Everything in this book is completely artificial; reading it felt like trying to eat plastic fruit. The structure is rather interesting, but the content is utterly tasteless and devoid of any excitement and authentic human experience - as if its sole purpose is to fulfil the prescribed form. I imagine this is what books would look like if they were written by robots.

[Djura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Veoma zanimljivo ali neujednačeno u držanju pažnje.

[Maja · Rating 4 out of 5]

liquid rubix cube.

[Mary Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic.