Secret camera

OT: Skriena kamera, 234 pp, Magor Skopje 2004

Lidija Dimkovska's "autofictive novel" is about a young Macedonian writer called Lila, an Albanian photographer by the name of Edlira and a Pakistani musician, Joseph, who meet as grant-holders in Vienna. After some initial misunderstandings a close friendship develops between the three of them, and Edlira and Joseph even become lovers. But Edlira has hepatitis and her health declines rapidly. She dies shortly before the end of their stay in Vienna and Joseph decides to return to Pakistan. These events are narrated from the point of view of a secret micro-camera implanted in Lila's big toe when she was small. Its narration is complemented by Lila's Vienna diary entries and a wealth of anecdotes as she reflects nostalgically on her childhood in Macedonia, her study years in Romania, where she met her husband, her move to Slovenia to live with him, and her trips to the US, Taiwan and Sweden - all with a dash of magic, Amélie-esque mirth. The novel revolves around issues of "foreignness", home and identity, which it treats from a range of perspectives with sharp, profound insights. Refreshing self-irony underlies its observations of the protagonists and their "modern nomadic" lifestyle.

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