The finest short stories of Slovenia's most prominent author. A young man learns English in Trieste in 1914 from James Joyce, who repeatedly describes an oil lamp. Years later, in 1941, this same man must flee his country, and he becomes the Slovenian voice of British radio. On his return to Yugoslavia, he falls foul of the new communist authorities. The characters who populate the stories of Drago Jancar stand at the periphery of tragic histories; they see the ground open under their feet yet remain leaning above the pit. Drago Jancar has been described as "the seismologist of a chaotic history". In this exceptional collection Brandon introduces the vision of the leading Slovenian writer of his generation.