Review
07.08.2013

Rudolf Sloboda Appears in Croatian

Rudolf Sloboda

Jesen

Disput, Zagreb 2004

Translated by Maria Kursar and Zrinka Stričević-Kovačević

 

Rudolf Sloboda’s one but last book Jeseň (Autumn) appeared in Croatian, translated by Maria Kursar and Zrinka Stričević-Kovačević in Croatian publisher Disput from Zagreb. I appreciate this beautiful edition, even topping the first Slovak one. The cover features a reproduction of a Zolo Palugyai’s melancholic and lonesome painting “Bluebird“, which evoques  the atmosphere of Sloboda‘ transparent text. One can only regret that Slovak publishers make such rare use of our visual arts heritage. I think Croatian readers might find this edition a discovery of their own –a writer so close in his ideas, language (Croatian title Jesen), and his roots, while they lay their hands on a work of modern Slovak fiction, written by one of its most prominent authors.

It might be due to Sloboda‘s trademark deceptively simple writing, and the familiar environment he describes – village, town, family, bohemian milieu, and his way of seeing the world, that the Croatian translation reads so naturally. I think these are two worlds very close to each other. A narration of petty details of everyday life, with an underlying motive of searching the purpose and understanding of one‘s life.

The afterword by Zrinka Stričević is called Rudolf Sloboda – eternal Croatian; she is quoting the author himself. The afterword presents Sloboda, so far unknown in Croatia, in intimate detail and understanding – and its informedness and warmth, together with a well-done translation gives us hope that the Slovak author will find its way in winning the hearts and minds of his Croatian readers.

Translated by Ľuben Urbánek