The Folly

Originally part of a collaborative project with photographer David Goldblatt, is a subtle triptych that captures the ordinary life of Neville Lister during South Africa's extraordinary revolution. Ivan Vladislavic lays moments side by side like photographs on a table. He lucidly portrays a city and its many lives through reflections on memory, art, and what we should really be seeking.

Ivan Vladislavic

"Vladislavic is amazing!" — Teju Cole

It is 1993, and Aubrey Tearle's world is shutting down. He has recently retired from a lifetime of proofreading telephone directories. His favorite neighborhood haunt in Johannesburg, the Café Europa, is about to close its doors; the familiar old South Africa is already gone. Standards, he grumbles, are in decline, so bad-tempered, conservative Tearle embarks on a grandiose plan to enlighten his fellow citizens. The results are disastrous, hilarious, and poignant.

Ivan Vladislavic

Ivan Vladislavic, author of and , invites readers to do some detective work of their own. Each story can be read as a story, but many hide clues and patterns. Whether skewering extreme marketing techniques or constructing dystopian parallel universes, Vladislavic will make you look beyond appearances.