Tomb for Boris Davidovich     by Danilo Kis, Translated by Duska Mikic-Mitchell Original title: Grobnica za Barisa Davidovica Published by Dalkey Archive Press Pub. Date: June 1, 2001 Format: Paperback, 135 pages ISBN: 1564782735 List Price: $11.95 buy now directly from the publisher Free Shipping Worldwide

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Composed of seven dark tales, A Tomb for Boris Davidovich presents variations on the theme of political and social self-destruction throughout Eastern Europe in the first half of the twentieth century. The characters in these stories are caught in a world of political hypocrisy, which ultimately leads t o death, their common fate.

Although the stories Kis tells are based on historical events, the beauty and precision of his prose elevates these ostensibly "true" stories into works of literary art that transcend the politics of their time.

"A portrait of a country and a people in turmoil, a portrait of how Communism both creates and devours its sons."—Publishers Weekly

"In Kis's case . . . it is the consistent quality of the local prose that counts. It is how, sentence by sentence, the song is built, a nd immeasurable meanings meant. It is the rich regalia of his rhetoric that leads us to acknowledge his authority. On his page, trappings are not trappings, but sovereignty itself."—William H. Gass, New York Review of Books

"Kis is one of the handful of incontestably major writers of the second half of the century. . . . Danilo Kis preserves the honor of literature."—Susan Sontag, Partisan Review

"An absolutely first-rate book, one of the best things Ive ever seen on the whole experience of communism in Eastern Europe, but more than that, it's really a first-rate novel."—Irving Howe

"A Tomb for Boris Davidovich bears traces of Orwell's 1984 and Koestlers Darkness at Noon, but it has its own special flair.}New Leader

"Kis slices into the essence of revolutionary spirit."—Booklist

"A stunning statement on political persecution."—World Literature Today

"Kiss book is a collection of sleek, semi-biographical stories that, like microscope slides, slice from large events one squirming sliver. . . . Much here is cast-iron and memorable."—Kirkus