Narrative
People Talk
Људи говоре
Rastko Petrović · 1931
Synopsis
A traveller arrives at the edge of a lake, in a country with Spanish names, and asks whether he can cross that same evening to one of the two islands: the Large one, some twenty houses without electricity, or the Small one, the marquis's hunting ground. He stays there a few days, walking and talking with the inhabitants, who speak of fishing, the war, their trade, the hope of a more secure life. Almost nothing happens: the book follows the voices.
Context
The author wrote the book during a journey: the title came to him first, then the opening sentences, jotted down in a small café on cigarette paper, and the rest on the benches of chapels. He considered it important for the novelty of its form and described it as without thesis, without aesthetics and without a specific country; indeed, the names are Spanish, but the wind that blows is Italian. It was the last book he published in his lifetime.
Who it is for
About seventy pages, made up mostly of dialogue. Nothing in it requires prior knowledge, but one must accept that no story takes shape.
Prizes and reception
One of the major works of its author and of Serbian avant-garde prose of the interwar period.