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Milorad Pavic. Sedam smrtnih grehova. Belgrade. Plato. 2002. 151 pages.
THERE ARE TWO PARALLEL PLOTS in the latest collection of seven stories, Seven Mortal Sins, by Milorad Pavic, one of the most prominent and prolific Serbian authors: the real ones and the dreamed ones, the latter being predominant. The settings are in Belgrade, on the Sava River slope, and the street names and the numbers of the houses, where the events take place, are adduced.
A peculiar feature of the stories is the appearance of several of Pavic's earlier characters as the heroes/heroines. Even more peculiar is the introduction of his majesty, the Reader. The reader of Pavic's other fiction turns up in a few stories from this collection. Many of the same elements recur in several selections-for example, the mirror with a hole, once a magic icon.
To invoke somehow his beloved, the protagonist of the story "Tuniski beli kavez u vidu pagode" (The Tunisian pagoda-shaped white cage) imagines in his dreamless nights the ideal home for his dear J.M. He selects...