THE BROAD SPECTRUM OF SHORT FICTION IN THE -ANOTHER STORY – IMPRINT

/, Literature, Blesok no. 118/THE BROAD SPECTRUM OF SHORT FICTION IN THE -ANOTHER STORY – IMPRINT

THE BROAD SPECTRUM OF SHORT FICTION IN THE -ANOTHER STORY – IMPRINT

THE BROAD SPECTRUM OF SHORT FICTION IN THE -ANOTHER STORY – IMPRINT


2.
It is well known that flash fiction can trace its origins to the oral folk tale, while its history is constituted as a written literary tradition. This literary form which is said to “develop in close relation to the civilizational, cultural and ideological constellations and orders” (Ќулавкова, 2007) has ensured its position as a separate genre based on the chronological-historical and stylistic-formative principles in the study of literature. In that light, during the last decade there have been new insights within the Macedonian literary and cultural scene that place flash fiction with its trends and results within the overall tradition and continuity of modern Macedonian literature (Тоциновски, 2015: 219). Further fresh validation of these views can be found in the publication of the collections of flash fiction under the Another Story imprint, which was born out of the eponymous literary festival in Skopje dedicated to flash fiction. The festival chronicles mark the organization of the first edition of Another Story in the Parc de la Francophonie in Skopje in 2016. Its flagship topic was Literature and Activism, which helped focus attention on the question of the ways in which flash fiction interacts with music, painting and other new forms of media. The second edition of the festival was organized under the motto Freedom Dream Love, introducing the poetics of surrealism as the central festival topic for the open debates, literary readings and workshops held in the Museum of Contemporary Art on the Skopje Fortress with its magnificent panoramic view of the city.

3.
When the collection of small stories I’m Old in Skopje by David Albahari, the laureate of the first edition of the festival Another Story, was published in 2016, few people were aware that this marked the beginning of a very interesting and highly specific literary adventure. What started as the publication of sixteen small conceptual stories about old age, later continued with the publishing of the short prose texts that Olivera Kjorvezirovska and Vladimir Martinovski wrote as a tribute to Albahari. Following the examples of thiese authors, the period between the two festivals saw the publishing of another stories by Ivan Shopov, Pandalf Vulkanski, Rumena Buzharovska, Vladimir Lukash, Irena Ristikj, whose stories were also accompanied by the publication of the flash prose texts by the contemporary American writer Lydia Davis and the Serbian author Bojan Babikj. With the organization of the second edition of the flash fiction festival, short prose works by three other Macedonian authors found their place in the series: Vlada Uroshevikj, Ognen Chemerski and Lidija Dimkovska.
What could be said about these thirteen little books, packaged in the unpretentious and cute format of a thin pocketbook that is rarely over thirty pages in total, is that they are a synthesis of the specific creative reflex that occurs in response to the communication criteria that requires the deft conveyance of a message. The semantic coordinates that frame the imprint are rich and varied, leaving many possibilities to view the final product from the aspect of the participants in this literary project.

For the editors, the goals of the Another Story imprint are aligned with the goal of the festival, so in that sense its importance lies in the attempt to broaden the popularization of literature in general. Furthermore, it can be seen as a kind of re-examination of the role that literature plays in society, as well as a series of literary re-examinations and rethinking of the genre boundaries of literature, the relations of literature with the “popular” and “elite”, the “highbrow” and the “lowbrow”, the socially engaged and the escapist; the role which the writer has in the new local and global contexts, as well as of the development and practicing of new strategies for creating cultural connections on the local, regional and global level. Besides these global aspects, the Another Story imprint also showcases another side which is sensitive to the poor conditions in which the domestic publishing industry functions and is concerned with the steps taken towards reducing publishing costs. This includes limited distribution of books, the absence of the title/logo of the publishing house, as well as the absence of the CIP (cataloguing in publication) data as a standardized and internationally recognized record on each book

AuthorDarin Angelovski
Translated byMilan Damjanoski
2018-11-26T11:40:02+00:00 March 27th, 2018|Categories: Reviews, Literature, Blesok no. 118|0 Comments