The stories included in this anthology of Macedonian fiction introduce English-Language readers to a literary culture that has too long been overlooked. Ranging form the melancholy realism of Rumena Bužarovska's "Lily" to surreal fantasias like Tomislav Osmanli's "Strained"—in which a stressed-out businessman eats his own computer—these texts paint a portrait of a country in constant transformation, still haunted by the Yugoslav past but quickly hurtling into the technocratic future.
Comic and tragic, po-faced and hysterical, Contemporary Macedonian Fiction is an introduction to some of the most exciting writers working today.
Paul Filev is a freelance translator and editor. His translations from the Macedonian include The Last Summer in the Old Bazaar by Vera Bužarovska and Alma Mahler by Sasho Dimoski. He lives in Melbourne, Australia.