From a book of essays that charts everything from the “listlessness of Central Europe to the ennui of the Low Countries” to a series of books that covers pretty much the rest of the bases by dealing with “Life and death—under water, and in the sky. Sinister picnics. Hellish cafeterias.” (If there’s anything else in the universe not included in the above lists I can’t think of it.)
Europe in Sepia by Dubravka Ugresic
Hurtling between Weltschmerz and wit, drollness and diatribe, entropy and enchantment, it’s the juxtaposition at the heart of Dubravka Ugresic’s writings that saw Ruth Franklin dub her “the fantasy cultural studies professor you never had.” In Europe in Sepia, Ugresic, ever the flâneur, wanders from the Midwest to Zuccotti Park, the Irish Aran Islands to Jerusalem’s Mea Shearim, from the tristesse of Dutch housing estates to the riots of south London, charting everything from the listlessness of Central Europe to the ennui of the Low Countries. One finger on the pulse of an exhausted Europe, another in the wounds of postindustrial America, Ugresic trawls the fallout of political failure and the detritus of popular culture, mining each for revelation.
Infused with compassion and melancholic doubt, Europe in Sepia centers on the disappearance of the future, the anxiety that no new utopian visions have emerged from the ruins of communism; that ours is a time of irreducible nostalgia, our surrender to pastism complete. Punctuated by the levity of Ugresic’s raucous instinct for the absurd, despair has seldom been so beguiling.
Translated by David Williams
Published by Open Letter Books
Read an excerpt here
Read more about the book here
Picnic of the Virtues by Felicitas Hoppe
These five darkly comic vignettes are absurd modern fairy-tales, full of Chaplinesque slapstick and ominous imagery. Their tragicomic heroes must navigate adolescence and family life, poverty and humiliation, love and ambition – and perhaps even emerge with their dignity. From her break-out debut collection, these wildly original pieces demonstrate why Felicitas Hoppe is counted among the greatest living German writers.
Translated from German by Katy Derbyshire
Published by Readux Books
Read more about the book here
When the Heart Drowns in Its Own Blood by Philipp Schönthaler
“Maybe I’m a philosophical person—the crucial question is: how deep can a person dive with a single breath?” Termann is a free diver. He’s come to the island, accompanied by journalists and his crew, in hopes of setting a record. The pressure mounts as the dive approaches, but Termann must remain calm. When the Heart Drowns in Its Own Blood delves into the psyche of a high-performance athlete as he pushes his body and mind to the limits of human ability.
Translated from German by Amanda DeMarco
Published by Readux Books
Read more about the book here
The Lesson by Cilla Naumann
Some students will drive even the best-intentioned teachers to the breaking point. Ingrid is one of those students. The Lesson is a nuanced portrait of the struggle between two wills, crackling with psychological tension and simmering with emotion.
Translated from Swedish by Saskia Vogel
Published by Readux Books
Read more about the book here
Flight by Adrian Todd Zuniga
When Miles sees Nicole at the airport, he’s captivated. “He thinks maybe they’ll share a row, between them an empty seat of separation—let fate do the introductions—and they’ll spend the cross-country flight moving beyond What do you do?’s, and Traveling for why?’s, and onto Who could have predicted?” With its feet on the ground and its eyes on the heavens, Flight is a candy-sweet story with substance.
Read more about the book here
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