The Dreamtime Chernov, Mstyslav; Leonard, Peter; Helbing, Felix
09/2022
eBook
The Dreamtime is a fusion of documentary and psychological fiction inspired by the author's experience as an international war correspondent. Alluding to the Indigenous Australian concept of ...dreamtime, the novel offers a unique point of view on the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014, through four intertwining narratives: a guilt-ridden doctor trying to exorcise his demons by exposing himself to war; a young woman tending to her ailing father as the bombs fall around them in Russian-occupied Slovyansk; a mysterious sociopath playing a cat-and-mouse game with an ex-lover; and a forensic expert solving a murder case while trying to save her marriage with a discharged soldier. As these threads unfurl, through harrowing scenes of personal and collective trauma, an enigmatic pattern emerges. The plots span in space from Ukraine's war-torn Donbas to southern Europe and southeast Asia, tied together by themes of existential conflict and the blurred line between reality and dreams. The novel was first published in Kyiv in 2020 as the focal point for a video-art exhibition on the media's role in creating public collective experiences. It was well received by critics and audiences and praised for its realism in depicting war, for its creative literary depiction of how dreams reflect the psyche, and for its masterly prose.
The Dreamtime Chernov, Mstyslav
2022, 20221011, 2022-09-20
eBook
The Dreamtime is a fusion of
documentary and psychological fiction inspired by the author's
experience as an international war correspondent.
"Scene by scene, Chernov vividly describes battles
fought ...in the streets, the bombing and shelling of apartments, and
the dreams of those on the front lines, physically and
psychologically. … This timely novel from a Ukrainian author
excels at examining the connection between reality and dreams and
exploring the effects of war on the human psyche."
― Library
Journal
" The Dreamtime
is a dark, multi-layered, modern Ukrainian war novel. It
demonstrates that war doesn't only occur on the front line, but
that it quickly and relentlessly corrodes society, breaking down
its structure. Chernov's dense, labored prose is tightly
intertwined like blades of grass after a storm. But when engaged
with, these interweaving shadows and voices gradually become clear
and transparent to the reader." ― Serhiy Zhadan,
author of The Orphanage
Alluding to the Indigenous Australian concept of dreamtime, the
novel offers a unique point of view on the beginning of the Russian
invasion of Ukraine in 2014, through four intertwining narratives:
a guilt-ridden doctor trying to exorcise his demons by exposing
himself to war; a young woman tending to her ailing father as the
bombs fall around them in Russian-occupied Slovyansk; a mysterious
sociopath playing a cat-and-mouse game with an ex-lover; and a
forensic expert solving a murder case while trying to save her
marriage with a discharged soldier. As these threads unfurl,
through harrowing scenes of personal and collective trauma, an
enigmatic pattern emerges. The plots span in space from Ukraine's
war-torn Donbas to southern Europe and southeast Asia, tied
together by themes of existential conflict and the blurred line
between reality and dreams.
The novel was first published in Kyiv in 2020 as the focal point
for a video-art exhibition on the media's role in creating public
collective experiences. It was well received by critics and
audiences and praised for its realism in depicting war, for its
creative literary depiction of how dreams reflect the psyche, and
for its masterly prose.
In this life-size game of Clue, six psychiatric patients in Paris's Saint Anne's Hospital are suspects in the murder of Dr. Black. Though Not a Clue tells the stories of these possible assassins, ...their lives, and what has brought them to the hospital, the true focus of Chloé Delaume's intense and tumultuous novel is not merely to discover the identity of the murderer. Rather, by cleverly combining humor with the day-to-day effects of life's unrelenting compromises, Not a Clue is an astute commentary on the current state of literary production and consumption. Masterfully juggling an omniscient narratrix, an accusing murder victim, at least six possible suspects as well as their psychiatrists, and a writer who intervenes by refusing to intervene, Delaume uses the characters, weapons, and rooms of the board game Clue to challenge-sometimes violently, sometimes playfully-the norms of typography, syntax, and narrative conventions.
It is 1979. The first Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit on African soil is due to take place in Zambia, graced by Queen Elizabeth herself. Barely a week before this much anticipated event, a ...white British couple, Henry and Laura Hinckley, are brutally killed on their farm on the outskirts of the capital city, Lusaka. The unknown perpetrators are at large, their motive unclear. Fearing a media backlash, the British government applies pressure on the Zambian authorities to bring the culprits to book, threatening to cancel the Queen's trip altogether - a move that would result in huge embarrassment for the Zambian government. Detective Maxwell Chanda, head of the Special Crimes Investigative Unit, is the man tasked with leading the investigation. He is a wise, steady hand, but will he be able to piece together the seemingly disparate evidence in just five days? Will he be able to hold firm under the intense political pressure which insists on putting expediency above accuracy?Five Nights Before the Summit offers a rich tapestry of context and character in a story that engages the reader in the pursuit of justice.
The Cremator Fuks, Ladislav; Kandler, Eva; Chitnis, Rajendra A
02/2018, Letnik:
57734
eBook
“The devil’s neatest trick is to persuade us that he doesn’t exist." It is a maxim that both rings true in our contemporary world and pervades this tragicomic novel of anxiety and evil set amid the ...horrors of World War II. As a gay man living in a totalitarian, patriarchal society, noted Czech writer Ladislav Fuks identified with the tragic fate of his Jewish countrymen during the Holocaust. The Cremator arises from that shared experience. Fuks presents a grotesque, dystopian world in which a dutiful father, following the strict logic of his time, liberates the souls of his loved ones by destroying their bodies—first the dead, then the living. As we watch this very human character—a character who never ceases to believe that he is doing good—become possessed by an inhuman ideology, the evil that initially permeates the novel’s atmosphere concretizes in this familiar family man. A study of the totalitarian mindset with stunning resonance for today, iThe Cremator/i is a disturbing, powerful work of literary horror.
Now Following You is a clever, chilling and compelling read, which deals skilfully with relevant issues , most notably, the power social media gives to stalkers and others who intend harm. Jamie ...Burchell is a digital native , social media comes as naturally to her as breathing. She Instagrams, tweets and Facebooks her every move. Then a stalker starts using social media to track her movements. As his behaviour escalates, so does her fear. But her blog has never been more popular. The fans can,t get enough of reading about her stalker. She is closer than ever to achieving her dream of becoming a writer. Should she take herself offline, or should she refuse to be intimidated? Soon the stalker starts threatening the people she cares about. But now it,s too late for Jamie to go offline , he,s already following her in real life.
