We are glad that Anna probably won’t be burnt. Standing by the bonfire, she raises a burning brand in the air and bids ten euros, but we outbid her, we bid twelve.
MY THANKS TO
Christine Marth, Martin Mittelmeier, Maria Motter, Thomas Pletzinger and Katja Sämann for their perception, wit, investigative talent, encouragement, and all their support for my work on this book.
MY THANKS TO
the inhabitants of Fürstenberg, Fürstenfelde, Fürstenwalde, Fürstenwerder and Prenzlau for their information and hospitality, and also to their respective museums and associations of local history for the historical insights. Their church registers and chronicles, and the accounts by Lieselott Enders of the history of the Uckermark, have been important sources for the present text.
MORE PRAISE FOR Before the Feast
WINNER OF THE 2014 LEIPZIG BOOK FAIR PRIZE
“A village in the Uckermark, fully in the present, yet rife with legends.
In Before the Feast, this village tells its own story — a novel as a
compelling multi-voiced chorale put in prose.”
— Leipzig Book Fair Prize Jury
“A book like few others. Politically well-versed and
stylistically a work of art.”
— Die Zeit
“Highly entertaining and full of chutzpah.”
— Die Welt
“Switching among styles with a dancing virtuosity, Staniši
knits a dozen characters into a multi-stranded tissue of gossip, myth,
and memory. . In English, Staniši makes a dream team with
Anthea Bell, who translates with a pitch-perfect ear for
every twist and frisk of his German.”
— The Independent
“Episodic, impressionistic and whimsical. . clever and funny.”
— TIBOR FISCHER, The Guardian
PRAISE FOR How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone
“I love this book. It’s funny and it’s heartfelt and it’s brazen and
it’s true. Find some space on your shelf beside Aleksandar Hemon,
Jonathan Safran Foer, William Vollmann, and David Foster Wallace.”
— COLUM McCANN, author of Let the Great World Spin,
winner of the National Book Award
“Staniši is an exceptionally talented, impish and caring writer
who has walked the edge of the abyss. One hopes that he will
continue to grapple with the paradoxes intrinsic to the human
condition and tell many more empathic, revealing and imaginative
stories full of cathartic laughter and feeling.”
— Los Angeles Times
“Madcap flights of invention and comic exaggeration clash movingly
with the painfully real chronicle of terror, loss, and exile at the story’s
heart. . How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone bears witness to
this horror with tragicomic intensity, reflecting the possibilities and
limitations of fiction in the face of atrocity.”
— Bookforum
“Beyond succeeding as a compelling fictional account of the very real
tragedy of a town in Bosnia-Herzegovina, [How the Soldier Repairs the
Gramophone] is also testament to the power of the imagination — and
its limitations. . Staniši’s tale will remain exceptionaclass="underline" A gifted
storyteller, he’s able to translate unspeakably gruesome history into
something poignant and hauntingly beautiful.”
— Village Voice
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
© KATJA SÄMANN
SAŠA STANIŠI
was born in 1978 in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and currently lives in Germany. His award-winning debut How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone has been translated into 32 languages. Before the Feast was a bestseller in Germany and won the prestigious Leipzig Book Fair Prize.