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Both absurd and melancholy, Honey in the Carcase, the newest collection from award-winning Josip Novakovich, moves from scenes as familiar as a dinner party to the brutal landscapes of war-torn Southeast Europe. A man tends bees amid the bombed-out husks of his village. A young girl takes revenge for the loss of a precious life. A Yugoslav drifter finds himself at dead ends in the American heartland. A marriage splinters over a suspicious scent. A cat and a dog enact ancient enmity in the midst of a warzone. An old debt is repaid. And a boy and a juvenile hawk seem to be on a similar quest for freedom and adventure, though violence lurks in the wilds just beyond the window.
Novakovich, hailed as “one of the best short-story writers of the decade” (Kirkus Reviews), approaches each story with the signature insight, wit, and compassion that have brought him distinction as winner of the American Book Award and Whiting Writer’s Award, and a finalist for the Man Booker International Prize.
Novakovich, hailed as “one of the best short-story writers of the decade” (Kirkus Reviews), approaches each story with the signature insight, wit, and compassion that have brought him distinction as winner of the American Book Award and Whiting Writer’s Award, and a finalist for the Man Booker International Prize.
Price: $9.99
Publisher: Dzanc Books
Imprint: Dzanc Books
Publication Date:
19 February 2019
ISBN: 9781945814990
Format: eBook
BISACs:
FICTION / Short Stories (single author), FICTION / Cultural Heritage, FICTION / Animals, FICTION / World Literature / Europe (General)
Praise for Honey in the Carcase
"Surprises abound in Novakovich's latest collection, which covers the lives of people in Eastern Europe grappling with authoritarianism, internal conflicts, and the pressures within their own communities. ... Novakovich expertly probes the minds of the virtuous, the menacing, and the self-deluded in equal measure. ... These stories manage the impressive feat of blending gritty realism with more surreal strands, making for a gripping read."
-Kirkus Reviews
"For more than two decades, Josip Novakovich has been an unflinching and unsentimental observer of the cruelty that one human can afflict on another, penning strange but fully recognizable stories and essays about such bleak topics as nationalism, war, and genocide. Novakovich has always balanced misery with a lightness, with a sense of humor and irony that Italo Calvino says we need to lift us up above the 'weight of living.' Novakovich’s illuminating new collection, Honey in the Carcase, extends these concerns in a way that speaks to our present moment, when so much of the world seems to be burning."
-Jeffery Renard Allen, author ofSong of the Shank and Rails Under My Back
Praise for Josip Novakovich
“Novakovich knows how to tell a story, and his prose has an easy, elegant velocity.” —The New York Times
“Like Aleksandar Hemon and Ha Jin, short story writer Novakovich manages the feat of writing vibrantly and inventively in a second language, shaping English to the dictates of his satiric, folk-tinged storytelling.” —Publishers Weekly
“One of the most forceful and original essayists in the English language.” —Los Angeles Review of Books
“Novakovich’s characters…are generous, flawed, violent, and rooted in an understanding of the earth.” —Montreal Review of Books
“There are very few native-born English speakers who write as well.” —The Guardian
Praise for Heritage of Smoke
“A host of characters grapple with the legacy of war, religious obsessions, surreal instances of violence, and an enduring guilt…. These often haunting stories of violence, faith, and disconnection make for a memorable voyage into a number of unsettled minds.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Josip Novakovich’s bruising and beautiful short stories cast new light on the experience of war and exile. A potent and intoxicating brew of comedy and tragedy. Heritage of Smoke is an exquisite work of short fiction by a master of the form.” —Laila Lalami , author of The Moor’s Account
“Some grim historical realities haunt many of the stories in this extraordinary collection. Sometimes with dark humor but always with an understanding eye toward his characters, Novakovich illuminates darkness more humanely than any writer since Chekhov.” —Jim Heynen, author of The Boys’ House and Fishing for Chickens
“In the visionary prose of Josip Novakovich, the Balkans are a toxic mix of medieval primitiveness and modern technology. Novakovich tells stories of individuals suffering against this background of regional catastrophe. He reveals the worst things people can do to each other in the absolutely best way.” —Melvin Jules Bukiet, author of Strange Fire and Undertown
"Surprises abound in Novakovich's latest collection, which covers the lives of people in Eastern Europe grappling with authoritarianism, internal conflicts, and the pressures within their own communities. ... Novakovich expertly probes the minds of the virtuous, the menacing, and the self-deluded in equal measure. ... These stories manage the impressive feat of blending gritty realism with more surreal strands, making for a gripping read."
-Kirkus Reviews
"For more than two decades, Josip Novakovich has been an unflinching and unsentimental observer of the cruelty that one human can afflict on another, penning strange but fully recognizable stories and essays about such bleak topics as nationalism, war, and genocide. Novakovich has always balanced misery with a lightness, with a sense of humor and irony that Italo Calvino says we need to lift us up above the 'weight of living.' Novakovich’s illuminating new collection, Honey in the Carcase, extends these concerns in a way that speaks to our present moment, when so much of the world seems to be burning."
-Jeffery Renard Allen, author of
Praise for Josip Novakovich
“Novakovich knows how to tell a story, and his prose has an easy, elegant velocity.” —The New York Times
“Like Aleksandar Hemon and Ha Jin, short story writer Novakovich manages the feat of writing vibrantly and inventively in a second language, shaping English to the dictates of his satiric, folk-tinged storytelling.” —Publishers Weekly
“One of the most forceful and original essayists in the English language.” —Los Angeles Review of Books
“Novakovich’s characters…are generous, flawed, violent, and rooted in an understanding of the earth.” —Montreal Review of Books
“There are very few native-born English speakers who write as well.” —The Guardian
Praise for Heritage of Smoke
“A host of characters grapple with the legacy of war, religious obsessions, surreal instances of violence, and an enduring guilt…. These often haunting stories of violence, faith, and disconnection make for a memorable voyage into a number of unsettled minds.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Josip Novakovich’s bruising and beautiful short stories cast new light on the experience of war and exile. A potent and intoxicating brew of comedy and tragedy. Heritage of Smoke is an exquisite work of short fiction by a master of the form.” —Laila Lalami , author of The Moor’s Account
“Some grim historical realities haunt many of the stories in this extraordinary collection. Sometimes with dark humor but always with an understanding eye toward his characters, Novakovich illuminates darkness more humanely than any writer since Chekhov.” —Jim Heynen, author of The Boys’ House and Fishing for Chickens
“In the visionary prose of Josip Novakovich, the Balkans are a toxic mix of medieval primitiveness and modern technology. Novakovich tells stories of individuals suffering against this background of regional catastrophe. He reveals the worst things people can do to each other in the absolutely best way.” —Melvin Jules Bukiet, author of Strange Fire and Undertown