American Scream: Palindrome Apocalypse

by Dubravka Oraić Tolić

ISBN: 978-1-932010107

6″ x 9″, softcover

240 pages

$14.95

Together, Oraić Tolić’s poems:

• Explore dark themes of social and individual selfishness in pursuit of dreams and the unintended consequences of those efforts.
• Examine the tension between a nation’s dream of freedom and the outworking of that dream.
• Capture the heart of pre- and post-war Croatia, yet speak universally of the pain of bringing one’s visions to life.

Translated specifically for an American audience, Dubravka Oraić Tolić’s epic poetry gives English readers a glimpse into the literature and culture of a society largely unavailable to English-speakers.

“Dubravka Oraić Tolić goes beyond playing with language and textual contexts. Although reality and notions of home, country, people, nation, and life permeate her poetry, the thematic weight does not rest on the semantic deconstruction of concrete geographical-historical localities, but on their empowerment through words, metaphors and symbols as elements of the text and culture.”

— Dr. Bernarda Katusić, University of Vienna

“Dubravka Oraić Tolić combines a wicked instinct for wordplay and verse form with passionate concern for the language and culture of Croatia. Each time I reread these poems I am freshly impressed by their depth, richness, and explosive potential. American Scream speaks to the reader at maximum volume!”

— Sibelan Forrester, Swarthmore College

About the Author:

Dubravka Oraić Tolić, poet, essayist, and literary theorist, was born in Slavonski Brod, Croatia on August 1, 1943. She studied philosophy and Russian language and literature in Zagreb, Croatia and Vienna, Austria; obtaining a doctorate with her dissertation on the phenomenon of the citation in literature and art. Since 1971, the author has been a member of the philosophy faculty, the Institute for the Study of Literature at the University of Zagreb, and since 1998, has taught literary theory in the Department for Slavonic Studies and Literature. She has published numerous articles in Russian, which have appeared in the journal Russian Literature (Amsterdam). Since 1969, she has published ten books in Croatian and one in German.

Read an interview with the author >>

About the Translator

Sibelan Forrester, a noted scholar and poet, brought her expertise with Russian and South Slavic language and literature and her poetic sensibilities to translating American Scream: Palindrome Apocalypse. Forrester has been a professor of Russian at Swarthmore College since 1994. She received her PhD in Russian Literature at Indiana University, with a PhD minor in South Slavic Literatures and Cultures. Her published translations include the first volume of Irena Vrkljan’s lyric autobiography The Silk, The Shears (Northwestern University Press, 1999) and a bilingual edition of Elena Ignatova’s poetry The Diving Bell (Zephyr Press, 2006). Currently, Forrester is working on a translation of Milica Mićić Dimovska’s novelMrena (The Cataract). She writes and occasionally publishes her own poetry.

Read an interview with Forrester >>