Description
Book SynopsisCandid and unfettered, Sven Popović’s Last Night is a playfully existential meditation on youth and the search for the self.Acclaimed in his native Croatia, Popović’s unique blend of intimacy and contemplation has garnered him a following in the alternative literary scene of Zagreb—and beyond. With an intellectualism that never takes itself too seriously, an unaffected fluidity of form, and a keen eye for the smallest, strangest moments that color our lives, his stories weave an offbeat tapestry of urban life.
Last Night is the first short story collection from Sven Popović, whose writing was previously featured in Dalkey Archive Press’s Best European Fiction 2017, and his first full work to be released in English. Slickly translated by Vinko Zgaga, Popović’s sometimes-dreamlike, sometimes-conversational vignettes offer a shrewd, original outlook on life’s absurdities.
Trade Review"Like all great writers, Sven Popovic is not only a master storyteller but also a conjurer of atmospheres. Reading this book is like hanging out with friends during one of those long and dreamy European summer days, where night and day eventually merge into each other and you are taken in by the subtle surrealism of youth. A book, yes, but more importantly a powerful experience.”
—Carlos Fonesca, author of Natural History and Austral "Sven's stories are not burdened by reality, as much as reality isn’t burdened with our generation. It’s hard to talk about generations, but if there is a cohesive thread that binds these forever-post-forever-inbetween people (who, instead of Proust’s Madelaines have toilet seats of rundown bars), Popović found it. These stories are permeated with melancholy and irony, they wear a tired sneer that never goes into cynicism, and they ask the following question: who is that “we” that we talk about? This is literature that dares to do what a lot of contemporary fiction shrinks away from—dream.” —Lana Bastašić, author of Catch the Rabbit
