Birth Certificate: The Story of Danilo Kiš

Thompson structures his complete and illuminating biography on the life of Yugoslav novelist, Danilo Kiš, in a creative and unexpected manner. The starting point is Kiš's own fictionalised ‘Birth Certificate (A Short Autobiography)', which has already been published in English multiple times: for example, in Kiš's collected essays and interviews edited by Susan Sontag ([b:Homo Poeticus: Essays and Interviews 217986 Homo Poeticus Essays and Interviews Danilo Kiš https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1311982311s/217986.jpg 211055]), and at the end of the English translation of [b:Early Sorrows: For Children and Sensitive Readers 259656 Early Sorrows For Children and Sensitive Readers Danilo Kiš https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348074000s/259656.jpg 6298279]. Kiš's text begins:My father came into the world in western Hungary...Thompson then builds each chapter from this text, so:- Chapter 1 = My Father- Chapter 2 = came into the world- Chapter 3 = in Western Hungary- and so forth until the end of the text.This intriguing structure highlights one of the defining elements in Kiš's work: his reliance on the relationship between reality and fiction.Every so often the chapters are interrupted by an “interlude”, which study, in more depth, each one of Kiš's major works. I skipped the interludes on [b:The Encyclopedia of the Dead 259655 The Encyclopedia of the Dead Danilo Kiš https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348304051s/259655.jpg 1479588] and [b:A Tomb for Boris Davidovich 217983 A Tomb for Boris Davidovich Danilo Kiš https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1494242301s/217983.jpg 1454313], and will return to read them once I have read those books in full myself. The interludes on Kiš's Family Trilogy were fantastic, though, as was the rest of the biography that links Kiš's work and life with the history, geography and politics of the region. As a side note, I would highly recommend anyone wanting to read this biography make sure they complete the trilogy beforehand, as the trilogy is pseudo-autobiographical and borrows extensively from Kiš's own life. This biography certainly helped me to clarify the trilogy and come away with much better understanding.The books also concludes with a complete and up-to-date bibliography, which I now must work my through...Thompson begins with Kiš's traumatic childhood in Hungary, as a Jewish survivor to the Holocaust, which perhaps triggered his need to write, and then moves on to his his later years of liberation in Belgrade, and his years abroad in places such as Paris and Bordeaux. Thompson also gives an overview on Kiš's literary methods, aims and techniques, such as his experimental use of form, multiple perspectives and representations, “hybrid” narrators, and the role of literature in both aiding rememberance and understanding, while also giving the persecuted the “right to oblivion” or to forget. Finally, the biography offers solid historical and political contexts of different eras in Kiš's life: for example, the trauma suffered by child Holocaust survivors, the “Central European” problem, Yugoslav nationalism and issues on state unity, the region's reliance on mythic heroism and traditionalism, and the exploitation of literature for political purposes.This is a really solid book, not only as a much needed English language insight into the Yugoslav writer, but also as an engaging and satisfying read in its own right. Highly recommended!