28 February 2014 Witty, utterly compelling – five stars for the latest book of Dubravka Ugrešić
A good observer, devilishly intelligent, knowing how to tell stories full of surprising digressions, and first of all – impressively erudite – writes Malwina Wapińska about Dubravka Ugrešić and her newest book under the Polish title Kultura karaoke (Karaoke Culture), awarding the book five stars in Kultura supplement to Dziennik Gazeta Prawna. By the way --Dubravka Ugrešić was our guest at the Conrad Festival 2012.
In Japanese, karaoke means ‘empty orchestra’. It’s popular entertainment – you can impersonate your favourite performer on stage, singing well-known hits to music recording. But for Dubravka Ugrešić it is much more: the culture of karaoke is for her a culture of ersatz which pretends and imitates more valuable ideals.
In Kultura karaoka, the author wants to be seen from an unknown angle – as a searcher and browser reviewing an uncountable number of websites, turning on and off dozens of TV channels and leafing through hundreds of newspaper pages a day to pick out a curiosity or paradox. The book shows the results of her research, which the author eagerly comments, sharing her brilliant ideas about the modern times with her readers.
One cannot help but like the narrator of these essays – comments the reviewer of the book. ‘Kultura karaoke’ is utterly compelling.
For the entire review see below:
