Baba Yaga Laid an Egg - Softcover

Ugresic, Dubravka

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0802145205 ISBN 13: 9780802145208

Publisher: Grove Press, 2011

Synopsis

According to Slavic myth, Baba Yaga is a witch who lives in a house built on chicken legs and kidnaps small children. In Baba Yaga Laid an Egg, internationally acclaimed writer Dubravka Ugresic takes the timeless legend and spins it into a fresh and distinctly modern tale of femininity, aging, identity, and love.

With barbed wisdom and razor-sharp wit, Ugresic weaves together the stories of four women in contemporary Eastern Europe: a writer who grants her dying mother’s final wish by traveling to her hometown in Bulgaria, an elderly woman who wakes up every day hoping to die, a buxom blonde hospital worker who’s given up on love, and a serial widow who harbors a secret talent for writing. Through the women’s fears and desires, and their struggles against invisibility, Ugresic presents a brilliantly postmodern retelling of an ancient myth that is infused with humanity and the joy of storytelling.

About this title

Book Description

Dubravka Ugresic retells the myth of Baba Yaga -one of the most famous stories in Russian and Eastern European mythology.

From the Back Cover

'Ugresic is a writer to follow. A writer to be cherished.'
Susan Sontag

Baba Yaga is an old hag who lives in a house built on chicken legs and eats children. She appears in many forms: as Pupa, a tricksy, cantankerous old woman who keeps her legs tucked into a huge furry boot; as a trio of mischievous elderly women who embark on the trip of a lifetime to a hotel spa; and as a villainous flock of ravens, black hens and magpies infected with the H5N1 virus. But what story does Baba Yaga have to tell us today?

This is a quizzical tale about one of the most pervasive and powerful creatures in all mythology, and an extraordinary yarn of identity, secrets, storytelling and love.

'Packed with intellectual surprises and emotional revelations.'
Tina Jackson, Metro

'Ugresic's retelling may be blisteringly postmodern in its execution but at its heart is a human warmth and even a
silliness that infuses it with the sweet magic of storytelling.'
Melissa Katsoulis, The Times

'A profound and startling meditation on the themes of femininity and ageing.'
London Review of Books

'Beautifully written . . . its humane vision of the world is driven by great imaginative impetus.'
Times Literary Supplement

About this edition

• Publisher: Grove Press
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0802145205
• ISBN 13: 9780802145208
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336