Moments of beauty in the prose of Danilo Kiš

Abstract

Danilo Kiš is one of the few Balkan authors that have acquired sufficient prestige not only to circulate but also to be studied beyond their own borders. He was forced to abandon Yugoslavia as a result of the affair orchestrated by the authorities in connection with the publication of A Tomb for Boris Davidovich (1976). The book was censored as the result of an infamous campaign in which the author was accused of plagiarism (1976-1981). Kiš decided to leave the country and lived in Paris during the decisive decade of the thawing of East-West relations. He became one of the most insightful voices in the analysis of totalitarian societies as a «combative author» (Casanova 1999). The very structure of his literary works functions as an artefact that expose the possibility of manipulation of any discourse. Behind his prose, there is a deep analytical work capable of documenting the personal and collective traumas.