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    A Castle in Romagna
    A Castle in Romagna
    A Castle in Romagna
    Audiobook2 hours

    A Castle in Romagna

    Written by Igor Štiks

    Narrated by Stefan Rudnicki

    3/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Separated by centuries, extraordinary lives intertwine in this award-winning novel of tragic love, political intrigue, and war.

    In 1995, at the height of the Bosnian conflict, a young refugee visits the old Mardi Castle in the north of Italy. There, instead of only experiencing the beautiful fortress and Renaissance frescoes, he becomes enthralled with the story of the tragic fate of poet Enzo Strecci, who spent his last days awaiting death in the castle’s dungeon.

    A Franciscan guide, Niccolò, a refugee as well, will illuminate the past in remarkable ways for the curious tourist. The fascinating and moving tale reaches back not only to Strecci’s life—four centuries earlier—and the doomed passion for a woman, politics, and poetry that became his downfall, but also to Niccolò’s own life, love story, and fateful escape from the brutal conflict between Stalin and Tito.

    Before the friar’s story is over, three men will be connected, regardless of time and space, by fates aligned by love, betrayal, and politics—and a bittersweet nostalgia for lost home.

    Revised edition: This edition of A Castle in Romagna includes editorial revisions.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    TranslatorRussell Scott Valentino and Tomislav Kuzmanovic
    Release dateMar 13, 2018
    ISBN9781543674590
    A Castle in Romagna
    Author

    Igor Štiks

    Igor Štiks was born in Sarajevo in 1977 and has lived in Zagreb, Paris, Chicago, Edinburgh, and Belgrade. His first novel, A Castle in Romagna, won the Slavić prize for best first novel in Croatia and was nominated for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for 2006. Earning his PhD at the Institut d’Études Politiques de Paris and Northwestern University, Štiks later published a monograph, Nations and Citizens in Yugoslavia and the Post-Yugoslav States: One Hundred Years of Citizenship. His novel The Judgment of Richard Richter, originally published as Elijah’s Chair, won the Gjalski and Kiklop Awards for the best novel in Croatia and has been translated into fifteen languages. In addition to winning the Grand Prix of the 2011 Belgrade International Theatre Festival for his stage adaptation of Elijah’s Chair, Štiks was honored with the prestigious Chevalier des arts et des lettres for his literary and intellectual achievements.

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    • 5/5
      Once upon a time, in a land far, far away….This could easily have been the introductory sentence for Igor Stiks’ A Castle in Romagna, an amazing novel that explores parallel stories from two different time periods. Both stories feature the theme of betrayal, by close companions, from the least expected sources. It begins in Northern Italy in 1995 where three friends go to visit an ancient castle in Romagna. They are there to visit the castle because of the internment there, centuries before, of the poet Enzo Strecci. Before they can explore the ruins, one of them is delayed by a caretaker, who is fascinated that he comes from Bosnia, at the time a scene of frequent violence. As the other two go to explore, the Bosnian tries to politely escape from the talkative caretaker. But soon, the man reveals that he, too, is from Bosnia, and begins telling his own life story as well as the story of Enzo Strecci. His story takes place when the schism occurred between General Tito and Josef Stalin. This led to Yugoslavia trying to become autonomous, with the result that eventually it divided into the complicated political region where Bosnia is located. The caretaker recounts how he barely escaped with his life from those convinced he was a Communist informer. He ends up, scarred and mutilated, in Italy. He describes his own connection with the castle while explaining how Strecci ended up at the same location during the Renaissance, and how it ended in Strecci’s execution. It’s clear that at first the listener feels like he’s missing out on exploring the ruins, but the story revealed soon becomes far more fascinating. The voice of the caretaker is witty and nostalgic, but he’s not wasting anyone’s time. He reveals only the relevant details in both accounts, which makes the novel move very quickly. The style is unusual but the essential meaning has almost a fairy-tale quality to it. While it’s easy to predict what’s going to happen, watching it unfold is thought- provoking because of the corelation of both accounts. The concepts of trust, vengeance, and betrayal are all classic story lines, but explored here in a way to remind the reader that often the danger lies closer to us than we may wish to realize. The fate of Strecci may be appropriate, but it’s a poignant moment when all his former friends are called to testify against him to save their master. He realizes then the “logic of power.”I was fascinated by this book, as it’s the first Croatian translation that I’ve read, and because the author is relatively young. He says a great deal about human nature with very few words, and he points at the blind spots most people have when it comes to reason. Historically, I never really understood the divide between Tito and Stalin and what it meant for the residents of Yugoslavia. This book may be difficult to find but worth the search, as it's a fascinating look at little-known time and place.