Missing Persons - Ivan Vladislavić

Delightfully absurdist South African short stories

Missing Persons is a first collection by a striking new South African writer. Each of these stories stands as a monument to the transitory. The reader is enticed into a world where identity shifts and power relationships are in a state of flux, and love implies transition. Beneath this restless surface lies a constant concern with the written; with how these stories are told; their inscription in the vigorous language of a turbulent South Africa.

The uncertainties of our times are explored with a mordant humour and incisive wit. Vladislavić's characters are the hapless phantoms of apartheid society. We encounter statues who attempt to become men, and men who would rather be statues; a grandmother who tacks together meat and the imagination; a man whose hands burst into flames; several Prime Ministers; and the long-suffering proprietor of the Terminal Bar. These characters inhabit the familiar spaces of the city, as well as the more puzzling locales of the imaginary.

This collection introduces a skilled and original new talent.