Atiq Rahimi: The Patience Stone
There’s an old Persian myth about a black stone that, when confessed to, absorbs and absolves, until the day comes when it can take no more and explodes. This is…
Jun’ichirō Tanizaki: The Key
The unnamed husband in Jun’ichirō Tanizaki’s The Key (1956, tr. Howard Hibbett, 1960) has long maintained a diary, though as he opens his first entry for the new year, he sets out…
David Albahari: Götz and Meyer
“Having never seen them, I can only imagine them” is how David Albahari’s narrator opens on the subject of Götz and Meyer, two non-commissioned officers, in this 1998 (tr. Ellen…
Atiq Rahimi: Earth And Ashes
First published in 2000, Atiq Rahimi’s Earth And Ashes is a short novella set in his native Afghanistan (he’s another one of those writers that run away to France, like…