- Paperback: 81 pages
- Publisher: Northwestern University Press; 1 edition (Aug 22 2000)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0810117827
- ISBN-13: 978-0810117822
- Product Dimensions: 20.2 x 11.9 x 0.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 122 g
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #989,630 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Embroidering on the conceit of time travel, Zivkovic, a Serb writer in his 50s, presents four episodic tales, stitching them together in the final installment. Each short narrative bears a title that's the occupation of its protagonist, and each protagonist is imprisoned, either literally or figuratively. The heretical royal astronomer in the first story has been condemned by the Inquisition to burn at the stake for scientific findings contrary to the teachings of the Church. A mysterious benefactor appears in his cell, offering to let him glimpse how his martyrdom will be viewed in the future if he still refuses to recant. In the second episode, the mysterious benefactor appears in the cell-like office of a contemporary linguist, an expert in prehistoric language. She is offered the chance to travel backward in time to test her theories among the most ancient speakers of language. In the third episode an old watchmaker in his little shop is offered the opportunity to travel back years in time to save his young wife from a fatal carriage accident. A psychiatrist in the final episode interviews a young woman, a painter in a mental institution. She has met and knows the identity of the mysterious time-traveling philanthropist, and addresses her doctor on the meaning of temporal finitude. Zikovic writes with a light and unpretentious touchAwelcome and refreshing in the wake of other post-Borges, post-Calvino practitioners of labored postmodern fiction. His tales are strangely stimulating, not so much for their philosophical insight as for their intimate appreciation of contemporary readers' experience of time and space. (Sept.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
time travel as redemption,
By A Customer
This review is from: Time Gifts (Paperback)
What makes Zivkovic's take on time travel unique is the setting in which each frustrated individual ultimately chosen for the journey lives. The mechanism by which they vault their present condition is one part quiet desperation and many, many parts imagination of a very high order. Reading these tales will leave you pondering them for days.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent, original Science Fiction, made in Serbia!,
By
This review is from: Time Gifts (Paperback)
Dr. Zivkovic is a really unique character. For several decades he has been one of the main driving forces behind Sci-Fi movement in Yugoslavia (both former and new), and now, Serbia. Dr. Zivkovic's publishing company "Polaris" is considered as a main publisher of Science Fiction books in Yugoslavia and, beleive it or not, a couple of world wide known authors had their world premieres there (Clarke's 3001, for example). Dr. Zivkovic is also fameous for being the first person to achieve a Ph.D from Science Fiction at Belgrade University, Serbia.This is Dr. Zivkovic's second book (the first one "Cetvrti Krug" = "Fourth Circle" unfortunately has not been translated to English yet). The book has four parts - at a first glance, four separate stories, but all of them are sharing a unique message... The last one is particulary powerfull, especially the end which, of course, I will not try to paraphrase here :) While in his first book the influence of Arthur Clarke's style and writing was obvious, in this book Dr. Zivkovic is trying to contribute something original and he succedes big time. Therefore, this book is probably much more interesting to non Yugoslav audience. There is also a CD-ROM multimedia edition of this book published in Serbia containing both Serbian and English versions and the audio recording of the first chapter read by author himself (on Serbian). I really can only recommend this book to any true Sci-Fi fan and I am looking forward for the next one from Zivkovic...
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.1 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews) 2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Literary Twilight Zone,
By Taylor - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Time Gifts (Hardcover)
Time is both gift and curse to three people -- a church astronomer persecuted by the Spanish Inquisition, a forgotten scholar of dead, ancient language, and a reticent watchmaker -- courtesy of an enigmatic, literally obscure stranger. He travels through time to visit people carrying years of secret pain, then leaves each with an oppurtunity for their own time journey. These episodes form the first three stories of the book; the fourth story links the previous tales and reveals the stranger's identity. This book's style is clean and clear, with few of the fumblings one might expect for a translated work. The glaring problem is shifting in diction. It isn't appropriate to write a sentence as casually poetic as "He stepped outside to meet the stars, but his foot did not alight on solid ground as it should have," and then follow it with the colloquial "It landed on something soft and squishy." And at other times, the narrator seems to confuse a Derby hat with a top hat. But in a book as otherwise formal and pristine as this one, these are minor quibbles. To convey the effect of time travel, Zivkovic adheres rigidly to Aristotle's unities of time and space, until the moment when each character receives their "gift"; then violently stretches each perspective to reflect disorientation. The travellers are left both grateful and unnerved by the journeys. Each tale ends in an ironic twist which will no doubt remind many of the Twilight Zone television series. But these tales lack the moral force of Serling's vision. Neither are they tales of the wonders held by the future, or exercises in alternate history. They are about the comfort of illusions and the shock of truth. If they feel slight, it's because of Zivkovic avoiding sensationalism, prefering instead to goad the reader into philosophic reflection.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
sci-fi for the postmodern,
By A. C. Walter "awalter" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Time Gifts (Paperback)
In this Serbian, postmodern, science fiction novel (yeah, you read that right) a mysterious stranger appears in three different times to three different people. He talks to them each about certain aspects of the nature of time and then gives each a "time gift," a visit to another time which will have special significance for him or her. In the book's fourth and final section, the mystery of the stranger and his visits is solved in the most unexpected way while questions of time-theory give way to a unique aesthetic statement.Not too much can be said about the organizing concept or the ending of this book without ruining its effect on the reader. Like most postmodern writers, Zivkovic depends heavily on the surprise created by the way he unexpectedly warps the traditional structure of a narrative. Postmodern writers generally violate at least one of the big, assumed "laws" of storytelling (good pop culture examples of this are the films of Charlie Kaufman--"Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," etc.). This is not to say that Zivkovic's work is a hollow stylistic exercise, however. The final section of "Time Gifts" offers the reader one or two truly substantive problems to ponder over. Zivkovic's prose, also, is often a treat. As an example, here is a priceless image from the novel, which comes as Zivkovic describes the modest amenities in the office belonging to an aging academic, a woman addicted to tea: "Several used tea bags were lying on the newspaper like tropical fish that had died of asphyxiation." A precious little gem, that. 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
time travel as redemption,
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Time Gifts (Paperback)
What makes Zivkovic's take on time travel unique is the setting in which each frustrated individual ultimately chosen for the journey lives. The mechanism by which they vault their present condition is one part quiet desperation and many, many parts imagination of a very high order. Reading these tales will leave you pondering them for days.
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