{"product_id":"on-the-threshold-short-stories-hardcover","title":"On the Threshold: Short Stories - Hardcover","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eDusan Mitana\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003eMagdalena Mullek\u003c\/b\u003e (Translator)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eStories that entwine the mundane with the mystical, written by a cult favorite Slovakian writer.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e An unhappily married woman is impregnated by her elderly neighbor who lives in a building across the street and with whom she has never had any physical contact. Just as his attention creates life within her, his own life waxes and wanes with her gaze and attention. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e A man finds himself trapped in a pub on a sweltering afternoon after refusing to buy a beer with his cigarettes. Guarded by a vigilante bartender and his beer-obsessed patrons, his every attempt at escape is foiled until their life-giving elixir, the beer, runs out. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e This collection introduces English-language readers to the work of Dusan Mitana, a cult figure in contemporary Central European literature. In Mitana's stories, appearing in English for the first time, the rational and the irrational are indistinguishable. His tales infect a banal, quotidian realism with mystical and supernatural distortions. Tinged with Hitchcockian paranoia and full of unexpected turns, the seventeen stories collected here offer a glimpse into Mitana's trademark absurdist style.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eDusan Mitana\u003c\/b\u003e (1946-2019) worked for two of the most prominent literary journals in Czechoslovakia, \u003ci\u003eMladá tvorba\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eRomboid\u003c\/i\u003e. His works, which include more than a dozen books of prose, two collections of poetry, and several scripts, span fifty years and have been translated and published in more than twenty countries. \u003cb\u003eMagdalena Mullek\u003c\/b\u003e is a literary translator and scholar.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 277\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e November 05, 2024\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42725112578111,"sku":"9781803094120","price":32.4,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0105\/8226\/1823\/files\/a2d3ef9193518992f46d119a9b09f76f.webp?v=1765105213","url":"https:\/\/dhlswag.com\/products\/on-the-threshold-short-stories-hardcover","provider":"BBB","version":"1.0","type":"link"}