Northern Lights

Josef Erdman arrives in Maribor, Slovenia, on the eve of World War II. Though he claims to be a salesman, it soon becomes apparent that Josef has no purpose in the town--and that a newcomer can expect nothing but distrust from the townspeople. Against this backdrop of suspicion and distrust he witnesses the fiery shimmer of the aurora borealis and imagines the town set aflame--an omen of the coming war.

"Excellent descriptions of drunken nights, dizzying binges and feverish sexual escapades, nationalist and fascist passions, spiritualist escapism and societal mannerisms, and failed love affairs that [animate] both the pretentious townsfolk [and the] murky lives of those on the margins: they all ultimately coalesce into a clear, if depressingly unforgiving [tableau]." --Ales Debeljak, University of Ljubljana

"Jancar, one of Slovenia's foremost writers, skillfully infuses even the most mundane events with foreboding, dread and paranoia." --Publishers Weekly

"Northern Lights hauntingly evokes a world tilting on its axis, preparing to 'shudder and reel on the edge of the immense abyss,' where things have begun to fall apart and the screams of the crowd drown out individual voices." --World Literature Today