How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone
by Saša Stanišić

Photo: © Goethe-Institut London/Nicolas Gäckle While the civil war plagues Bosnia in the 1990s, young Aleksandar and his parents flee to the West. Restlessly curious, he conquers the foreign land of Germany, and tells absurd stories of those earlier times with irrepressible passion - about the big family and the curious episodes in the small town of Višegrad. Aleksandar dreams away the fear and fantasizes about the “time when everything was all right”.

Aleksander grows up in the small Bosnian town of Višegrad. His biggest talent is making up stories. He doesn’t think of dealing with the topics or places of his school essays, as the harvest festivals with his great-grandparents are far too crazy, the rampages of betrayed husbands are far too thrilling, and the confessions of the river Drina are far too incredible. When the war cruelly descends on Višegrad, the world as Aleksandar knew it can’t resist the violence anymore and the family has to flee. Aleksandar’s romanticism turns out to be vital in the foreign western land.  It enables him to manage to find his way around this strange place called Germany and to tell himself a story of home. While he can’t miraculously bring his grandfather back to life, now he has a magic wand: his fantasy brings back what he lost. When the grown-up Aleksandar returns to the town of his childhood, it remains to be found out whether his romanticism can defy the post-war reality in Bosnia.

With How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone, Sasa Stanisic has written – under exceptional circumstances – an overwhelming, lavish, burlesque, tragi-comic novel about an exceptional childhood, about the brutal loss of the familiar and about the indestructible faith in storytelling.