Lake Como
ABOUT
THE BOOK
When his hero, a novelist, receives a Rockefeller scholarship to spend a month in Villa Maranese in Bellagio on Lake Como, he is bound to reconsider his measure of things, to find his place in a world of whose existence he was not aware of before. In his work, Valjarević is uncompromisingly open and honest both to others and to himself – no wonder his readers trust him and understand his need to be who he is, any time, at any cost. Be it in Belgrade, Bellagio or on the Island of Korčula, he keeps his mind open and the membrane of his identity permeable but firm. And because of this, the hero of the novel is able to have fun and enjoy in the fine things of this fleeting life. Because of this, solitude becomes him perfectly.
For Lake Como, Srđan Valjarević received the Eastern European literary award “Bank Austria Literaris 2008”.
ABOUT
THE TRANSLATOR Alice
Copple-Tosic
Alice Copple-Tosić (1948) was born and raised in San Jose, California, and moved to Belgrade, Serbia (former Yugoslavia) in 1975. She has a master’s in French and has been translating from Serbo-Croatian into English since 1978. She taught English language and translation for fifteen years at the University of Belgrade and is currently a translation reviser at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands.
Alice Copple-Tosić (1948) was born and raised in San Jose, California, and moved to Belgrade, Serbia (former Yugoslavia) in 1975. She has a master’s in French and has been translating from Serbo-Croatian into English since 1978. She taught English language and translation for fifteen years at the University of Belgrade and is currently a translation reviser at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands.
NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS
Solitude is a wonderful thing if you can handle it, says the author of Lake Como, relying on his own experience of living in a voluntarily chosen margin, the hero of the novel, a novelist, is able to have fun and enjoy in the fine things of this fleeting life. Because of this, solitude becomes him perfectly.
A life of a young novelist who voluntarily has chosen to live in a margin. A novel on perfection of solitude, written in a strangely transparent style. Lake Como received the Eastern European award, Bank Austria Literaris 2008.