Macedonian author Rumena Bužarovska’s fourth short story collection includes seven stories almost programmatically titled “Going Nowhere”. The title reflects not only a hard stance but also a variedly explored theme of economic migration, a more comfortable kind, one which leaves on a plane with a relatively full belly so it can attempt to make a picture-perfect life for itself. Ironically, Bužarovska realizes that that is the case – a paper-thin life which boils down to staging an illusion of happiness with all the must have frills and symbols that one has acquired or still wants and the silent emotional mutilation. Those differently devastated marriages – failed, old, young – leave an impression of disengagement, stalemate, inability to stand on both feet in life. That inertia, despite the miles they travelled, and that void are not necessarily a consequence of migration, but we are at least certain that migration is not the solution.
Deep psychological portraits, especially of female characters, are so nuanced that we understand the envy and malice of those who are biologically challenged so they cannot have children, but it is clear that that is not the cause and certainly not the excuse for their mean disposition. When it comes to couple with children, those children are more a source of relationship asymmetry and the layering of frustration, and when they grow up – they are creatures who despise their parents.
You understand by now that this work offers a piercing and brave glimpse into human nature and society. Through everyday banalities and details Rumena Bužarovska tells dramatic stories which we ourselves are willing to overlook. – Kruno Lokotar
Rumena Bužarovska
Rumena Bužarovska (1981, Skopje) has written four short collections of short stories: Žvrljotine (Scribbles, 2006), Osmica (Eight, 2010), Moj muž (My Husband, 2014) i Nikamo ne idem (Going Nowhere, 2018), studies of humour in contemporary Macedonian and American short story O smiješnom: Teorije humora kroz prizmu kratke priče (About Funny: Humour Theoury through the Lens of Short Story, 2012) and mini-fiction booklet Spavaj (Sleep, 2017). Her short story collection have been translated and published in Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Slovenia, Italy, Hungary and USA…
Ivica Baković
Ivica Baković (1982) graduated with a degree in Croatian and Slavic studies from the University of Zagreb’s Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences where he currently works as an assistant professor at the South Slavic languages and literatures department. He has published one book: “Drama oko povijesti: Povijest i pamćenje u hrvatskoj i makedonskoj drami druge polovice 20. stoljeća“ („Drama about History: History and Memory in Croatian and Macedonian Plays in Second Half of the 20th Century”, 2018)…