Moly - Saša Stanišiæ: How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone

Aleksandar, hero and obvious alter ego of his creator, is against death, and endings. „Being finished should be stopped” he cries as he searches for his magic hat and wand in an effort to resurrect his beloved grandfather. But a warmly eccentric family and charming, drunken parties to celebrate such mundane events as the building of an indoor loo cannot protect him, his Muslim mother and Serb father from the impending civil war in Yugoslavia. Life in Visegrad gets darker; soldiers and tanks appear on its streets and the river Drina becomes a dumping ground for corpses. Like Stanisic, Aleksandar escapes to Germany, but he is haunted by the memory of Asija, the neighbour he tried to protect. Aleksandar's jumble of vignettes, by turns inconsequential, touching and horrific, can seem a whimsical response to what is happening. But the child's-eye view composed of lists, memories and odd talismans matures into a powerful catalogue of loss. Through Aleksandar, Stanisic fiercely defends the power of the imagination as a weapon to counteract brutal reality.

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