Dubravka Ugrešić — Fording the Stream of Consciousness [1991]

The first novel (and first English translation) from perhaps the finest living Croatian (and heck—one of the world’s finest) essayist(s), Fording the Stream of Consciousness is the sort of knowing wit-drenched metatext I have wet dreams about on a nightly basis. Taking place at an international literary conference in Zagreb, the novel sends up the oddballs, players, manoeuvrers, hangers-on, and sinister elements at such an event, rich in continuous fast-paced incident that makes the plot a pain to summarise, plump to the slim-brim with Dubravka’s stocks-in-trade: copious and well-placed literary references, hilarious comedic characters drawn from real personae, razor-sharp observations on location, behaviours between nations, and the various cultural and interpersonal differences from Europe and overseas. Dubravka is perhaps the most international writer working today, shown here with her on-the-ball depictions of neurotic American writer Mark Stenheim and his Eastern European friend Pipo Fink who still lives with his mother and writes unconventional prose, the oleaginous Flaubert descendant Jean-Paul Flagus, the Minister and his clinging lover Vanda, the unfortunate Czech Jan Zdražil whose stolen epic manuscript stalks the novel, among a ragbag of other delectable creations involved in a series of brilliant set-pieces and through-plots that keep the novel bouncing along with intrigue, entertainment, and comic mastery. No other writer in the literary satire business has the international scope of Dubravka, whose extensive travels and extraordinary breadth of literary and cultural reference (at evidence too in her fabulous essay collections Thank You for Not Reading, Karaoke Culture, and Europe in Sepia), places her writing at the creamiest of the crop, taking the reader places navelgazing British and American writers never endeavour to tread. If this capsule endorsement leaves you unsure, peruse also her other novels, including the more sombre tale of exile The Ministry of Pain, her mid-90s opus The Museum of Unconditional Surrender, or the recent mythopoeic mentalpiece, Baba Yaga Laid an Egg. This writer’s work will endure down the ages as a touchstone of unclassifiable, intercontinental, exploratory writing. Her work is well-served in translation, with American and British presses such as Dalkey Archive, Open Letter, Canongate, and (in this case) Telegram Books pumping her work out there to the undeserving masses. Long may her devilish wit and outstanding intellect reign! [And kudos to the peerless translator Michael Henry Heim for his spectacular work here].

Editions:

Hardback, 1991, Virago. 

Paperback, 1993, Northwestern University Press.

Bibliography:

Novels:

Fording the Stream of Consciousness, 1991, Virago. 

The Museum of Unconditional Surrender, 1998, Weidenfeld & Nicholson.

The Ministry of Pain, 2006,  Ecco.

Baba Yaga Laid an Egg, 2009, Canongate.

Short Fiction: 

In the Jaws of Life, 1992, Virago. 

Lend Me Your Character, 2004, Dalkey Archive.