Los orígenes

"The origins" is a book about the first chance that marks our biography: being born in a certain place. And about what comes next. "The origins" is a book about the places where I come from, both remembered and invented. A book about language, underground work, the youth relay race, and many summers. The summer when my grandfather stomped on my grandmother in the middle of a dance that I was almost not born. The summer I almost drowned. The summer when the German authorities did not close the borders and it was like that other summer when I had to flee to Germany and cross many borders. "The origins" is a farewell to my grandmother, who suffers from dementia. While I collect memories, she loses hers. "The origins" is sad, because for me the origin has to do with something that can no longer be had. In "the origins" the dead and the snakes speak, and my great-aunt Zagorka goes to the Soviet Union because she wants to be a cosmonaut. "The origins" are also: a almadiero, a brakeman and a teacher of Marxism who has forgotten Marx. A Bosnian police officer delighted to be bribed. A Wehrmacht soldier who likes milk. An elementary school for three students. A nationalism. A Yoke. A Titus. An Eichendorff. A Sasa Stanisic.