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Aco Šopov: Reader of Ashes (Гледач во пепелта), 1970. New edition, 2013
The publication of Gledač vo pepelta (Reading the the Ashes), in 1970, was celebrated in Macedonia as a literary event. Literary critic Georgui Stardelov immediately perceived the prophetic dimension of the book, as “it dives into the innermost being, examines the presubstantial foundations of a world that exists at the boarder between cataclysme and tomorrow’s well being.”
“Thanks to the irruptive use of versatile, enigmatic words, heavy with meaning, and bearing multiple inherited or foreshadowed existential layers” according to Kata Ćulavkova, “Šopov shifted the horizon of contemporary Macedonian poetry.”
Whereas Risto Lazarov, who initiated this new 2013 edition, explains in his epilogue that he inaugurated the new collection “Summits” of Vezilka2011 Press with this particular book because of its leading role in Macedonian Literary creation.
In 1976, Aco Šopov declared in an interview: “Nebidnina (1963) and Gledač vo pepelta (Reader of Ashes), are a turning point in my poetry journey, where the question at hand is no longer trying only to read ‘the book of life’ (…) but also to say it in a different language.”
Access the content of the book available in English
See the book’s promotion in Skopje, in 2013.