A shadow of death darkens this book, but it is a beautiful shadow and a. Encyclopedia of the dead european classics kis, danilo, heim, michael henry on. His best known works include hourglass, a tomb for boris davidovich and the encyclopedia of the dead. The encyclopedia of the dead is an obvious attempt to follow in jorge luis borges footsteps, and although the stories are good and mostly inventive they lie on the other plane. Simon magus is a gnostic tale with an apparent sympathy for the advocates of gnosticism. Combining history and fiction in what critics have seen as a postmodern fashion, the stories which have been compared to the work of jorge luis borges have helped cement kiss legacy as one of the most important 20thcentury yugoslav authors. Brilliantly combining fact and fiction, epic and miniature, horror and comedy, this was danilo kis final work, published in serbocroatian in 1983. Kis casts doubts on commonly accepted notions that books serve only good causes, that to. These stories about love and death, truth and lies, myth and reality range across many epochs and settings. In the encyclopedia of the dead, danilo kis offers a vision that expands the domain of life at the expense of that of death.
The encyclopedia of the dead penguin modern classics. The encyclopedia of the dead, a unique exemplar of a book containing the biography of every ordinary life. Encyclopedia of the dead danilo kis kathleen azali. The encyclopedia of the dead by danilo kis book cover, description. Kis was influenced by bruno schulz, vladimir nabokov, jorge luis borges, boris pilnyak, ivo andric and miroslav krleza among other authors. Danilo kis has 57 books on goodreads with 24580 ratings. Encyclopedia of the dead, and a tomb for boris davidovich, danilo.
The encyclopedia of the dead by danilo kis goodreads. Books by danilo kis author of the encyclopedia of the dead. The most famous collection of short fiction by acclaimed yugoslavian writer danilo kis. During the second world war, he lost his father and several other family members, who died in various nazi camps. The encyclopedia of the dead is the third book of his that i have read. The encyclopedia of the dead by danilo kis fantastic fiction.
Danilo kis was born in subotica, danube banovina, kingdom of yugoslavia, the son of eduard kis kis ede, a hungarian jewish railway inspector, and milica kis born dragicevic from cetinje, montenegro. Danilo kis s most popular book is the encyclopedia of the dead. He would have been a more deserving nobel prize winner during the 1980s than half of the writers who actually received the award. Danilo kis was a yugoslav novelist, short story writer, essayist and translator. Danilo kis was one of the great writers of fiction from the second half of the twentieth century.