A Little Workshop of Stories
Bajramovic Benjamin 
The man was sitting on a bench, looking at the lake. He seemed to be daydreaming. He looked a little sad, lost in his thoughts. Another man approached, holding a child by the hand. “Excuse me,” he said to the man on the bench, “could you move a bit?” The man shifted as much as … Read more
In the plain stood a railway station. It was old, very old, and creaked in the wind like the skeletons of the hanged that whistle as they sway and knock against one another. Every nail, screw, and hinge had long since loosened from their places on the ancient wooden structure. The signs were no longer … Read more
For three days and three nights the rain fell. Dense, heavy, opaque. It fell slowly, like a theatre curtain descending at the end of a performed act. People sat in their houses. The hungry cattle moaned and bellowed in their pens and stables. From time to time a lantern would glow on a porch, then … Read more
Thomas Mann’s Joseph and His Brothers opens with an image of young Joseph gazing into the dark bottom of a well, reflecting on the past. The deeper his gaze penetrates, the darker the reflection becomes, until it finally turns into shadow. Breaking free from the spell of the well, Joseph runs off into his bright … Read more
In the middle of the grove stood an unusual tree. Since time immemorial, its branches had stretched deep into the earth, its leaves sprouting and dying in the underground darkness, while its roots jutted into the air. Thus the tree had lived. Travellers and wanderers passing through the grove avoided it, taking it for a … Read more
The house is quiet, sunk into the night like a decaying ship. It lies tame and peaceful, beautiful in its collapse. It has killed four people. They were found on the threshold, intensely dead.The first in pieces.The second, a homeless man, gray-haired and gaunt, as if he had died of old age.The third, a young … Read more
Calderón’s hero Sigismundo, imprisoned all his life, is granted a single day of freedom. His jailers drug him and transfer him to the royal palace, where Sigismundo awakens dressed in splendid garments. The courtly entourage informs him that he is a prince and heir to the throne. Deprived for years of life’s pleasures, Sigismundo becomes … Read more
The rain falls patiently. It descends like a flock of drunken birds, charges boldly and forcefully, returns home, to the earth, deep below, to flood, to smother, to fertilize. It gurgles in gutters, drains, cracks, breaks into cavities, grooves, holes, hollows, conquers cobblestones, streets, sidewalks, flows into trenches and pipes, into ears and throats, pours … Read more
I open the door, the smell of hookah hits me. Heavy and sweet, it makes me nauseous. Reminds me of some disgusting, cheap perfume. The place is arranged like a mosque. A mosque with a bar. Two floors, and still small. On the ground floor you can hardly turn around. Upstairs it’s a little more … Read more
Life you deserved. He said that. A people you deserved. A country you deserved. Why must I deserve anything? On the way here I passed the city. Almost the whole of it: all its holes in the asphalt, fallen facades, awkwardly whitewashed monuments, rickety trams, dirty markets, broken drains, warped fences, cheap awnings, spat-on shop … Read more