Readers of Europe - Bulgarian recommendation
Readers of Europe - recommendation by the Permanent Representation of Bulgaria to the EU
Book selected: Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov
What if you could return to previous moments in your life and linger in them a little longer. What if you could use time itself a shelter to wrap yourself in to escape the future. Would you do it? And if you could, what would be the consequences. Georgi Gospodinov asks these questions in his remarkable novel Time Shelter.
In the early 1990s we meet Gaustine who, at the time, is an antiquarian who has chosen to live in the 1930s – everyday he reads that day's issue of a newspaper from the year he is in, cut off from contemporary life around him. You have never met a man like Gaustine, a flâneur who roams across time.
Later on, Gaustine becomes the mind behind the first 'clinic for the past,' an institution based in Zurich that offers an inspired treatment for Alzheimer's sufferers: each floor reproduces a past decade in minute detail, allowing patients to transport themselves back in time and find comfort in their fading memories.
Yet, an increasing number of healthy people are interested in seeking out the clinic as a form of 'time shelter', hoping to escape from the horrors of the present, a development that results in an unexpected conundrum.
This is a novel/investigation into how to live with a critical deficit of future, which weaves together irony, nostalgia, and satire, switching between various narrative levels.
A novel with a hundred novels within the novel, a novel of a continent with dozens of states, hundreds of cities and people. This is a novel unlike any other.
Released in 2020, Time Shelter is contemporary Bulgarian fiction at its finest. It already has translation contracts for 12 languages, including German, Spanish, Italian and Polish. It will be published in the United States by Norton and in France by Gallimard by the end of 2021.
For those looking to unearth other Bulgarian literary gems, discover more via Eureka, the online catalogue of the Council libraries.
За тези, които искат да открият други български литературни скъпоценни камъни, открийте повече чрез Eureka, онлайн каталога на библиотеките на Съвета.
• Bulgarian literature in Eureka
About the Readers of Europe campaign - Travel across Europe through literature
Through the long months of winter, in the deepest depths of the pandemic, the thought of traveling again was a guiding light for many sailing towards uncertain shores.
Although people were confined to their homes, many made epic voyages in uncharted lands with the aid of an old friend - books. For many, books were used as an invaluable coping measure to help deal with the psychosocial strain of being confined. Reading has helped people in Europe and around the world to cope with isolation during enduring lockdowns, and deal with the uncertainty about the future.
Summer 2021 has a more hopeful feel than last year. The ever-increasing vaccination rates and the EU Digital COVID Certificate will hopefully facilitate safe free movement of citizens in the EU.
But situations can change quickly during pandemics. Some people may prefer to have staycations in their country of residence. But whether you are voyaging at home or overseas, the Council Library has found a 'budget' way to enable everyone to visit Europe.
This summer, the Council Library will whisk you away across the continent, moving not only across the Member States, but in and out of time as well.
We have once again invited colleagues from the Permanent Representations to the EU to make recommendations for books to read over the summer, with the second edition of our 'Readers of Europe' campaign. The theme for this year's campaign is 'Travel across Europe through literature'.
The literary pit stops on this tour will shine a light on some of Europe's hidden charms, visiting places that are both eerily familiar and profoundly new. The works selected cover a broad range of genres, from contemporary to classic. Stories that penetrate deeply and consume entirely. Stories with strange beauty, nostalgia, mystery and love. Stories that showcase the vast wealth of European literature.
The original article is published in the web-site of the Council of the European Union
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Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov is initially recommended for Readers of Europe by the State Institute for Culture.