Goran Vojnović: Southern Scum Go Home! (excerpt in English)

Why my name is Marko

Ranka was born in Derventa but her fam then moved around Bosnia a lot. So she went to elementary school in Banja Luka and to a trade high school in Zenica. Then they moved to Visoko, where she then met Radovan, who was on vacation, because my aunty Ružica got married to Milan. Ranka was also at the naptchials because her brother Dragiša was a friend of Milan. Radovan and Ranka got acquainted at this naptchials and then Radovan called Slovenia and arranged to extend his leave a little. Fuck it, socialism and all. And he did for a few months and Ranka and he got married. Then he called Slovenia again to get his job back and they took him back. He didn’t want to stay in Visoko out of muleborm cause his pops Dorde had sent him to Slovenia so he decided to stay there even if he couldn’t grub anything.

Translated by Aljaž Kovač
(source: Vilenica Almanac 2008)