Friday 20 August 2010

Review of Baba Yaga Laid An Egg

When you read Dubravka Ugrešić, be prepared to go where you’ve not been before.

Ugrešić was born in what used to be Yugoslavia. When the war began in 1991 she fiercely opposed it and was severely criticised as a result. As her startlingly designed website states:

She started to write critically about nationalism (both Croatian and Serbian), the stupidity and criminality of war, and soon became a target of the nationalistically charged media, officials, politicians, fellow writers and anonymous citizens. She was proclaimed a “traitor”, a “public enemy” and a “witch”, ostracized and exposed to harsh and persistent media harassment. She left Croatia in 1993.

Her writings include several novels, short stories, children’s books, essays and critical work, and she was a literary scholar with a particular interest in the Russian avant-garde. Now she lives in Amsterdam, and lectures occasionally overseas.

Review continues at M/C Reviews 'words'.