With its style of narration, this collection of remarkable short stories bears comparison with the masters of the genre, even within an international context.
Short stories
In this collection of short stories, Bianca Bellová, winner of the 2017 EU Prize for Literature, demonstrates her mastery of the form. The common thread running through the collection is the cycle of life – from childhood in a single-parent family, through puberty and first relationships, to the productive years and finally to old age. The title refers to the fragments or snippets of lives which this short-story collection captures in the individual stages of an ordinary person’s life – within them, banality can abruptly shift into a moment that is fatal, decisive and crucial. With their characteristically minor-key, melancholic tone, combined with a complete rejection of linguistic ornamentation, these short stories are also shaped by a specific, at times dark, humour.