ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Operation Bruno would not have been possible without the support and patience of my wife, Lisa Stodder, the toughest editor around and an important intelligence source, who was able to handle all my shifting identities with grace.
Agent Nicole Aragi, the head of the New York network, and Sean McDonald have been instrumental in completing the New York part of the Operation.
The Chicago operatives Reg Gibbons and Stuart Dybek generously put their trust in me. The Chicago part of the Operation would have been impossible without the murky character of Edwin Rozic (known in some circles as Eddie the Neck) and the Herman Lavoyer Special Soccer Unit. Particular thanks to George Jurynec and the Ukie boys for providing a safe house in times of adversity.
The Sarajevo operatives, scattered around the world on their dangerous missions, have unconditionally believed in the success of Operation Bruno, putting their well-being and sanity on the line. My being would be impossible—let alone Bruno—without Gusa and Veba. The group of Sarajevo operatives trained in Omladinski Program and Dani, particularly Zrinka, Pedja, Zoka, Senad, Herr Wagner, Drug Tito, and Gazda Boro Kontic (the man behind it all), have performed miracles of misinformation and propaganda. The wisdom of Semezdin Mehmedinovic has provided moral and mental guidance for a young literary-field operative.
Finally, the nomadic Hemon tribe protected me in times of adversity, as my parents, Peter and Andja, and my sister Kristina (still fighting international criminals), provided honey, pierogy, and love, which sustained me during Operation Bruno.
FIRST VINTAGE INTERNATIONAL EDITION, JULY 2001
Copyright © 2000 by Aleksandar Hemon
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. Originally published in the United States by Nan A. Talese, an imprint of Doubleday, a division of Random House Inc., New York, in 2000.
Vintage and colophon are registered trademarks and Vintage International and colophon are trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Some of the stories in this book have appeared, in different form, in the following publications: “Islands” in Ploughshares and Best American Short Stories 1999, “The Life and Work of Alphonse Kauders” in TriQuarterly and, in Serbo-Croatian, in Best Yugoslav Short Stories 1990, “The Sorge Spy Ring” in TriQuarterly, “Exchange of Pleasant Words” in Granta, “A Coin” in Chicago Review, and extracts from “Blind Jozef Pronek & Dead Souls” in The New Yorker and The Baffler.
The Library of Congress has catalogued the Doubleday edition as follows:
Hemon, Aleksandar, 1964–
The question of Bruno/Aleksandar Hemon.—1st ed.
p. cm.
Contents: The life and work of Alphonse Kauders—The Sorge spy ring—The accordion—Exchange of pleasant words—A coin—Blind Josef Pronek & dead souls—Imitation of life. 1. Sarajevo (Bosnia Hercegovina)—Social life and customs—Fiction. 2. Chicago (Ill.)—Social life and customs—Fiction. 3. Bosnian Americans—Illinois—Chicago—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3558.E479155 Q47 2000
813′.54—dc21 99-057519
eISBN: 978-1-4000-3284-6
Author photograph © SA Schloff
www.vintagebooks.com
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