{"product_id":"karaoke-culture-dubravka-ugresic","title":"Karaoke Culture - Dubravka Ugresic","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"description user-content lightboximages\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\"Ugresic never commits a sloppy thought or a turgid sentence. Under her gaze, the tiredest topics of the \"tired\" continent (migration, multiculturalism, \"new Europe\") spring to life.\" \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e—\u003cem\u003eThe Independent\u003c\/em\u003e (UK)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOver the past three decades, Dubravka Ugresic has established herself as one of Europe’s greatest—and most entertaining—thinkers and creators, and it’s in her essays that Ugresic is at her sharpest. With laser focus, she pierces our pop culture, dissecting the absurdity of daily life with a wit and style that’s all her own.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWhether it’s commentary on jaded youth, the ways technology has made us soft in the head, or how wrestling a hotel minibar into a bathtub is the best way to stick it to The Man, Ugresic writes with unmatched honesty and panache. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eKaraoke Culture\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is full of candid, personal, and opinionated accounts of topics ranging from the baffling worldwide-pop-culture phenomena to the detriments of conformist nationalism. Sarcastic, biting, and, at times, even heartbreaking, this new collection of essays fully captures the outspoken brilliance of Ugresic’s insights into our modern world’s culture and conformism, the many ways in which it is ridiculous, and how (deep, deep down) we are all true suckers for it.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTranslated from the Croatian by David Williams\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e•\u003c\/span\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAbout the Author: \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003eDubravka Ugresic is the author of several works of fiction, including\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Museum of Unconditional Surrender\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eand\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Ministry of Pain\u003c\/em\u003e, and several essay collections,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eNobody's Home\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eand\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eKaraoke Culture\u003c\/em\u003e. In 1991, when war broke out in the former Yugoslavia, Ugresic took a firm anti-nationalistic stand and was proclaimed a \"traitor,\" a \"public enemy,\" and a \"witch,\" and was exposed to harsh and persistent media harassment. As a result, she left Croatia in 1993 and currently lives in Amsterdam.  \u003cspan\u003eIn 2016, she \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003ewas awarded the Neustadt International\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e Prize for Literature for her body of work\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout the Translator: \u003c\/strong\u003eDavid Williams studied Comparative Literature at the University of Auckland, specifically the post-Yugoslav writings of Dubravka Ugresic and the idea of a \"literature in the Easter European ruins.\" He is the translator of Ugresic's \u003cem\u003eEurope in Sepia\u003c\/em\u003e and Miljenko Jergović's \u003cem\u003eMama Leone.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e•\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\"Ugresic is sharp, funny and unafraid. . . . Orwell would approve.\" \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e—\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eTimes Literary Supplement\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Dubravka Ugresic is the philosopher of evil and exile, and the story­teller of many shattered lives the wars in the former Yugoslavia produced.”\u003cbr\u003e—Charles Simic\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eother books by Dubravka Ugresic \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/centrala-shop.co.uk\/products\/europe-in-sepia?_pos=1\u0026amp;_sid=a1414bc78\u0026amp;_ss=r\"\u003eEurope in Sepia\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Centrala Cafe \u0026 Shop","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40418454470829,"sku":"","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0558\/7904\/1197\/products\/image_72db9a47-cccc-4fc4-8454-605392149ba7.jpg?v=1627662992","url":"https:\/\/centrala-cafe-shop.myshopify.com\/products\/karaoke-culture-dubravka-ugresic","provider":"Centrala Cafe \u0026 Shop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}