The Fig Tree
ABOUT
THE BOOK
The Fig Tree is a novel composed of the intertwining stories of the family of Jadran, a 30-something who tries to piece together the story of his relatives to better understand himself. Because he cannot understand why Anja walked out of their shared life, he tries to understand the suspicious death of his grandfather and the withdrawal of his grandmother into oblivion and dementia. With all his might, Jadran tries to understand the departure of his father in the first year of the war in the Balkans as he also tries to understand his mother, with her bewildering resentment of his grandfather, and her silent disappointment with his father.
The Fig Tree is a multigenerational family saga, a tour de force spanning three generations from the mid-20th century through the Balkans wars of the 90s until present day.
About the Author/Translator
Goran Vojnović’s bestselling debut novel Southern Scum Go Home! has been reprinted five times and translated into numerous languages. A collection of his columns from a Slovene daily newspaper and weekly magazine have been published as a book-When Jimmy Choo meets Fidel Castro which was translated into Serbian.. The Fig Tree won the Župančič Award, the highest recognition of the City of Ljubljana for outstanding creation in the field of art and culture, 2017 and Shortlisted for the Njegoš Award 2017.
ABOUT
THE TRANSLATOR Olivia
Hellewell
Olivia Hellewell is a literary translator from Slovene and a doctoral researcher at the University of Nottingham. She gained a Master’s degree in Translation Studies with Slovene in 2013. Olivia has previously translated short stories, poems and literary extracts including the prize-winning Dry Season by Gabriela Babnik for the European Commission’s EU Prize for Literature.
Olivia Hellewell is a literary translator from Slovene and a doctoral researcher at the University of Nottingham. She gained a Master’s degree in Translation Studies with Slovene in 2013. Olivia has previously translated short stories, poems and literary extracts including the prize-winning Dry Season by Gabriela Babnik for the European Commission’s EU Prize for Literature.
NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS
“The fig tree” is a family saga composed of several interconnected stories. The main character, Jadran, is trying to understand his life through the stories of his close family members. He realises to what extent the past is inseparable from the present and that the intertwining of various destinies, decisions, freedoms and love form an inevitable network of his identity from which he cannot escape. This story follows three generations of families living in the Balkans, giving the reader a glimpse of identities forged by historical realities. Goran Vojnović is a great writer, who can depict a very intimate story and give it a universal meaning. Rijeka City Library, Croatia
The Fig Tree tells a story about three generations and introduces the subject of separation, which courses through the entire novel. After ending a relationship in his thirties, Jadran starts to reflect on his life and ends up digging up the family past. Thus far, life seemed to have passed by with a steady current, supposedly evolving straightforwardly towards a planned future. Assessing forgotten and hidden facts about the lives of parents and grandparents, the novel tells a non-linear story of growing up and growing old, love, lost opportunities and choices to be made. It is skillfully written, saturated with a lyrical exploration of the slippery and elusive nature of memory. Ljubljana City Library, Slovenia