Aleksandar Hemon - Best European Fiction 2013

Next morning we woke early. Sand blown in under the doorway had gathered in a fine-grained pile on the floor. It was like the snow in the mountains back home in Norway. Thunder Snow and I got dressed and went out to take a closer look at the town.

Timbuktu is a con. It’s just a bunch of houses on a desolate rise in the middle of an endless ocean of sand. There was nothing to be gotten from that town.

“This place stinks,” I said. “What the hell are we going to do in a place like this?”

“Nothing,” said Thunder Snow. “That’s why it’s perfect.”

I had been tricked, that was what it felt like, without ever quite knowing what it was I had actually been expecting. I was restless and ready for adventure, that was about it. To be there, hidden away in an enormous desert with a bunch of scruffy tourists and a weird guy like Thunder Snow, that didn’t suit me at all.

“I’m off,” I said. “I can’t stay here, that’s for sure.”

“Don’t you realize that Timbuktu is just as much a place that’s inside of you?” Thunder Snow seemed genuinely moved. “The town is a dream and an idea. Every kid growing up has heard of Timbuktu as the most remote place on earth. Now we’re here, you and me. We made a big effort to get here. You mustn’t be disappointed that the streets aren’t paved with gold or that there’s no university bursting with infinite wisdom. Because that’s what the first explorers thought they would find in Timbuktu. They were just as disappointed as you when they finally got here.”

“Jesus Christ,” I said. “You sound like a tourist guide.”

Thunder Snow hummed to himself, strolled along the dusty streets with his hat at an angle, had himself photographed with tourists, and clearly fancied himself one of the attractions. It made me even more depressed. Timbuktu was absolutely no kind of a place to stick around.

I packed my rucksack and bought a ticket for a seat on an old propeller plane that flew to Mopti twice a week. My plan was to travel on to Bamako, the capital of Mali.

I left without saying good-bye.

I’ve been back to Timbuktu twice to look for him, and failed both times. When I meet people who’ve been there I ask whether they have seen an enigmatic and inscrutable Norwegian wearing a hat, beads, and a waistcoat. The answer is always no. People who know Timbuktu say that no Norwegian has ever lived there. Now I’ve more or less come to terms with the fact that I must have invented him.

He let his beard grow and travelled to America, read Arthur Rimbaud, and wrote poems. On the bus from New York to Los Angeles he met a girl who was on the run. The girl said the childcare people were after her. Her mother was a junkie and her stepfather hit her. He stroked her crotch. When she got off next morning in Knoxville she gave him her father’s address. He stayed on the bus until late the next morning holding that little note in his hand. He flew home from Los Angeles after losing all his travel money in Las Vegas and hitchhiking across the Mojave Desert. Back in Norway he sent a letter to the girl who had got off the bus in Tennessee. “You’re the best thing that ever happened to me,” he wrote. “Maybe we belong together…?” Three weeks later the letter came back. ADDRESS UNKNOWN was printed in capital letters across the envelope. The American postal service paid the return postage. This too was written in capital letters. As though a dollar was such a big deal.

ARMENIA Krikor Beledian, The Name under My Tongue , 62.

AUSTRIA Lydia Mischkulnig, A Protagonist’s Nemesis , 237 .

BELGIUM: FRENCH Paul Emond, Grand Froid , 50 .

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA Semezdin Mehmedinović, My Heart , 213.

BULGARIA Rumen Balabanov, The Ragiad , 274.

DENMARK Christina Hesselholdt, Camilla and the Horse , 360.

ESTONIA Kristiina Ehin, The Surrealist’s Daughter , 306.

FINLAND Tiina Raevaara, My Creator, My Creation , 119.

FRANCE Marie Redonnet, Madame Zabée’s Guesthouse , 251.

GEORGIA Lasha Bugadze, The Sins of the Wolf , 39.

HUNGARY Miklós Vajda, Portrait of a Mother in an American Frame , 139.

ICELAND Gyrðir Elíasson, The Music Shop , 423.

IRELAND: ENGLISH Mike McCormack, Of One Mind , 403.

IRELAND: IRISH Tomás Mac Síomóin, Music in the Bone , 105.

LATVIA Gundega Repše, How Important Is It to Be Ernest? , 177.

LIECHTENSTEIN Daniel Batliner, Malcontent’s Monologue , 323.

LITHUANIA Ieva Toleikytė, The Eye of the Maples , 262.

MACEDONIA Žarko Kujundžiski, When the Glasses are Lost , 8.

MOLDOVA Vitalie Ciobanu, Orchestra Rehearsal , 93.

MONTENEGRO Dragan Radulović, The Face , 20.

NORWAY Ari Behn, Thunder Snow and When a Dollar Was a Big Deal , 427.

POLAND Sylwia Chutnik, It’s All Up to You , 311.

PORTUGAL Dulce Maria Cardoso, Angels on the Inside , 168.

ROMANIA Dan Lungu, 7 P.M. Wife , 372.

RUSSIA Kirill Kobrin, Last Summer in Marienbad , 79.

SERBIA Borivoje Adašević, For a Foreign Master , 338.

SLOVAKIA Balla, Before the Breakup , 1.

SLOVENIA Mirana Likar Bajželj, Nada’s Tablecloth , 351.

SPAIN: BASQUE Bernardo Atxaga, Pirpo and Chanberlán, Murderers , 332.

SPAIN: CASTILIAN Eloy Tizón, The Mercury in the Thermometers , 202.

SWITZERLAND Bernard Comment, A Son , 383.

TURKEY: GERMAN Zehra Çirak, Memory Cultivation Salon , 157.

UKRAINE Tania Malyarchuk, Me and My Sacred Cow , 189.

UNITED KINGDOM: ENGLAND A. S. Byatt, Dolls’ Eyes , 291.

UNITED KINGDOM: WALES Ray French, Migration , 392.

BORIVOJE ADAŠEVIĆ For a Foreign Master (Serbia), 338.

BERNARDO ATXAGA Pirpo and Chanberlán, Murderers (Spain: Basque), 332.

MIRANA LIKAR BAJŽELJ Nada’s Tablecloth (Slovenia), 351.

RUMEN BALABANOV The Ragiad (Bulgaria), 274.

BALLA Before the Breakup (Slovakia), 1.

DANIEL BATLINER Malcontent’s Monologue (Liechtenstein), 323.

ARI BEHN T hunder Snow and When a Dollar Was a Big Deal (Norway), 427.

KRIKOR BELEDIAN The Name under My Tongue (Armenia), 62.

LASHA BUGADZE The Sins of the Wolf (Georgia), 39.

A. S. BYATT Dolls’ Eyes (United Kingdom: England), 291.

DULCE MARIA CARDOSO Angels on the Inside (Portugal), 168.

SYLWIA CHUTNIK It’s All Up to You (Poland), 311.

VITALIE CIOBANU Orchestra Rehearsal (Moldova), 93.

ZEHRA ÇIRAK Memory Cultivation Salon (Turkey: German), 157.

BERNARD COMMENT A Son (Switzerland), 383.

KRISTIINA EHIN The Surrealist’s Daughter (Estonia), 306.

GYRÐIR ELÍASSON The Music Shop (Iceland), 423.

PAUL EMOND Grand Froid (Belgium: French), 50.

RAY FRENCH Migration (United Kingdom: Wales), 392.

CHRISTINA HESSELHOLDT Camilla and the Horse (Denmark), 360.

KIRILL KOBRIN Last Summer in Marienbad (Russia), 79.

ŽARKO KUJUNDŽISKI When the Glasses Are Lost (Macedonia), 8.

DAN LUNGU 7 P.M. Wife (Romania), 372.

TOMÁS MAC SÍOMÓIN Music in the Bone (Ireland: Irish), 105.

TANIA MALYARCHUK Me and My Sacred Cow (Ukraine), 189.