Obradovíc, Nadezda 1936–

PERSONAL: Born January 6, 1936, in Kocane, Yugoslavia; daughter of Bozidar (a professor of mathematics) and Viorika (Tahovic) Djordjevic; married Vladimir Obradovíc, January 8, 1959. Ethnicity: "Serb." Education: University of Belgrade, diploma in Romance languages. Religion: Atheist. Hobbies and other interests: African, Caribbean, and African American literature.

ADDRESSES: Home—35 Fracuska Ulica, Belgrade, Serbia 11000. Office—Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Belgrade, Bul. Revolucije 73, Belgrade, Serbia 11000; fax 381-11-324-8681. Agent—Marlene Connor, 7333 Gallagher Dr., Ederia, MN 55435. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Medjunarodna Politika, Belgrade, Yugoslavia (now Serbia), proofreader of French materials, 1959–61; Brodoimpex, Belgrade, translator, 1965–70; University of Belgrade, Belgrade, translator for faculty of electrical engineering, beginning 1970. Broadcaster for Radio Belgrade and Radio Sarajevo.

MEMBER: Association for African Literature, Association for Slavic Languages.

AWARDS, HONORS: Golden Badge, for contributions to Serbian culture.

WRITINGS:

IN ENGLISH

(Editor) Looking for a Rain God: An Anthology of Contemporary African Short Stories, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1990.

(Editor) African Rhapsody: Short Stories of the Contemporary African Experience, foreword by Chinua Achebe, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1994.

(Editor, with Radmila J. Gorup) The Prince of Fire (stories), foreword by Charles Simic, University of Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, PA), 1998.

(Editor) The Anchor Book of Modern African Stories, foreword by Chinua Achebe, Anchor Books (New York, NY), 2002.

Contributor to periodicals, including World Literature Today.

EDITOR AND TRANSLATOR INTO SERBIAN

If You Wish to Know Me (stories and poems), P. Glas, 1985.

Anthology of Short Stories from Africa, P. Bagdala, 1989.

D. Kushner, Another Kingdom (poems), P. Sveske, 1991.

G. Hatje, The Arrangement of the Flat, 1991.

Mother Was a Great Man (story anthology), Pbl. 94, 1995.

M. Zimunya, Selected Poems, Smederevo, 1995.

Fuga Africana (stories), Prosveta, 1997.

Voiceless Cry (stories), Prosveta, 1997.

Under the Almost Tree (stories), Prosveta, 1998.

Moonlight over the Field of Ghosts (stories), Prosveta, 1999.

So Black So Fair (stories), Prosveta, 2002.

Kiran Desai, Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard, Clio, 2002.

Tahar Ben Jelou, The Sacred Night, Narodna knjiga, 2002.

Andree Chedid, The Message, Narodna knjiga, 2002.

The Time for You and Me (stories), Gutembergova Galaksija, 2002.

OTHER

Determinante prostorno funkcionalnih veza izmedu komuna i regiona u SR Srbiji van pokrajina (nonfiction), Institut drustvenih nauka (Belgrade, Yugoslavia), 1982.

Some of Obradovíc's works have been translated into German.

WORK IN PROGRESS: So Black, So Blond, a book of Australian stories, for Prosveta; The Maharaja's Elephant, a book of Indian stories; research on literature by young Serb writers.

SIDELIGHTS: Author, editor, and translator Nadezda Obradovíc concentrates her professional attention on short stories and related works from Africa and other areas of the world. As an editor, she has assembled anthologies of contemporary African and Serbian stories; as a translator, she has translated into Serbian a variety of stories from Africa, Asia, Nigeria, South Korea, and Australia.

African Rhapsody: Short Stories of the Contemporary African Experience includes works by twenty-five writers from sixteen countries throughout the whole of Africa. The book acts as a "veritable cornucopia spilling forth the hard facts of life for most Africans," commented Booklist reviewer Alice Joyce. In "It Was Easter Sunday the Day I Went to Netreg" Sindiwe Magona tells "an expertly crafted, psychological powerhouse of a story" about a pregnant, unwed teenager who is taken to the city by her mother and white employer to have an illicit abortion, noted a Publishers Weekly contributor. The Congolese protagonist of "The Advance," by Henri Lopes, is denied an salary advance by her white employer to buy medicine for her sick son, who is starving to death at home while she tries to coax her employer's brat of a daughter to eat. A war hero from Biafra suddenly loses his taste for battle when he sees the starving, ragtag group of young soldiers he is assigned to lead in "The Last Battle." Tales of hardship and poverty stand side-by-side with stories of political turmoil and families, towns, and societies devastated by unending war and violence. The collection "contributes to the unknown, potentially untapped creativity of the African continent, bringing together both familiar and hitherto unfamiliar names," observed Pamela J. Olubunmi Smith in World Literature Today. Obradovíc's work deserves "a place of importance in the growing corpus of single-volume African short-story anthologies published in English," Olubunmi Smith concluded.

The Prince of Fire contains stories by Serbian writers. In thirty-five stories, the authors cover topics of importance to Serbian society, including childhood memories, the experience of World War II, and the painful reality of life under communism. "The Banat Train" by Mladen Markov explores issues of nationality in a story about a young boy and his family who are mistreated because of who they are. Hadzi-Tancic's "Skull Tower" chronicles a massacre of Serbs by Turks in 1890 in which the 952 Serb skulls were eventually built into a macabre tower. Other authors offer stories about war, forced emigration, even rejected writers. The ongoing Balkan conflict serves as a perpetual background presence, but many of the writers seek to illustrate that Serbia and the surrounding regions are united by more than unending war, and that those who dwell in the region have concerns and ambitions beyond that of the current conflict. "The Prince of Fire is a significant book because it makes a valuable and welcome contribution to the South-East Slavic European Study in English," commented Mirna Emersic in the International Fiction Review. "The book makes for a good and pleasurable read," Emersic continued, "even for those who are not already acquainted with this region of the world." Library Journal contributor M. Anna Falbo concluded: "Whether describing peasant life or urban dreamscapes, these tales are well told."

Obradovíc once again focuses on Africa with The Anchor Book of Modern African Stories. The anthology proves "that the short story is alive and well in modern Africa," commented a Kirkus Reviews critic. "Not surprisingly," the critic continued, "there's little presence of joy in these pages—and little humor." Still, the authors strive to capture the reality of life on the African continent as it exists today, and some stories offer "voices of beauty and snatches of wonder among the folly and despair," the Kirkus Reviews reviewer observed. In "A Handful of Dates," by Tayed Smith, a child is given a keen lesson in the misuse of power when his grandfather coldly calls in a debt. "The Wicked Tongue" by Mohammed Moulessehoul tells a story about slander and its repercussions. In Charles Mongoshi's "The Brother," a boy who goes to live with his brother in the city is shocked by his brother's dissipation and terrible attitude. "Outstanding in scope, intensity, and artistry, these exceptional stories offer a powerful introduction to the pleasures of African literature," remarked a Publishers Weekly reviewer.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, February 15, 1994, Alice Joyce, review of African Rhapsody: Short Stories of Contemporary Africa, p. 1058.

International Fiction Review, January, 2001, Mirna Emersic, review of The Prince of Fire, p. 100.

Kirkus Reviews, October 1, 2002, review of The Anchor Book of Modern African Stories, p. 1423.

Kliatt, March, 2003, Patricia A. Moore, review of The Anchor Book of Modern African Stories, p. 42.

Library Journal, June 15, 1998, M. Anna Falbo, review of The Prince of Fire, p. 110.

Publishers Weekly, February 21, 1994, review of African Rhapsody, p. 249; December 23, 2002, review of The Anchor Book of Modern African Stories, p. 48.

Review of Contemporary Fiction, summer, 1999, Biljana D. Obradovíc, review of The Prince of Fire, p. 136.

World Literature Today, spring, 1995, Pamela J. Olubunmi Smith, review of African Rhapsody, p. 414.