Yugoslav writer Danilo Kiš (1935−1989) may not be well-known to American-Jewish readers, but this ambitious biography at least offers a context for understanding Kiš’s very real contributions to Jewish/Serbo-Croatian letters. Born to a non-practicing Jewish father, who was later murdered at Auschwitz, and a Montenegrin mother, who protected her children with timely baptisms, Kiš grew up understanding that having Jewish bloodlines meant being the Other. Although he never claimed any religion for himself, his feelings for his absent father and his quasi-Talmudic literary proclivities became place-markers for his spiritual inclinations. Coming of age in post-World War II Yugoslavia, Kiš’s stories explore, albeit allegorically, both Nazi and Stalinist death machines. To tell Kiš’s story, Thompson takes a brief autobiographical statement that Kiš himself wrote in 1983, and breaks out the significance of each detail that Kiš selected. This life narrative is intercut with sections exploring Kiš’s literary works, so readers come away with a sense of both Kiš’s life and his writing. Anyone interested in modern Eastern European literature, particularly the role of Jewish writers, will find this biography important reading. Bibliography, index, map, notes, photographs.
Bettina Berch, author of the recent biography, From Hester Street to Hollywood: The Life and Work of Anzia Yezierska, teaches part-time at the Borough of Manhattan Community College.
