He’s back! Inspector Dejan Lukić, gentlemanly police investigator who also happens to be an aesthetically attuned lover of literature, makes his return appearance in the third part of Zoran Živković’s trilogy that began with The Last Book and The Grand Manuscript. And similar to the first two volumes, the mysteries the good inspector is called upon to solve in Compendium of the Dead orbit around books. As Dejan himself remarks: “Why did everyone on the police force immediately think of me the minute anybody mentioned books?”
Before we go any further, since Compendium of the Dead is both a work of Middle-European fantastika in the tradition of Kafka and Gogol as well as a detective story, permit me to mention I’m in complete agreement with novelist Stephen King who has stated more than once in his New York Times book reviews that dust jackets and book reviewers generally give away far too much, especially when it comes to books that can in any way be categorized as mysteries or thrillers. Thus keeping to the spirit of not divulging too much, I’ll convey some detail pertaining to the first several chapters and then shift to commenting on the novel's themes in a more general philosophical context.
Dejan Lukić informs us he is perplexed why the director of City Cemeteries Administration called the police and asked specifically for him. Oh, yes, as Raymond Chandler has his private eye Philip Marlowe narrate in the first-person, so too Zoran Živković has Inspector Dejan Lukić tell the tale. As Dejan discovers shortly after meeting Director Hristina Leleković, there’s good reason he alone was summoned to the premises: downstairs on the basement level, in the most important section of the buildings, the Archive, a room maintained under twenty-four hour surveillance and maximum security, as impossible as it might appear, an unknown someone somehow left an envelope with four words written across the middle in red pencil – “For Inspector Dejan Lukić.” And in that envelope is a highly unusual book.
Events move apace. No sooner does the good inspector return to Police Headquarters and speak with a young lady working in the police lab so as to have the envelop and book checked for prints then he receives a call from the National Library - his presence is needed immediately for a crisis worse than life and death. Upon arrival he is lead down to the Department of Old and Rare Books by the Deputy Head. Another mysterious book and identical note addressed to him.
Back again at Police Headquarters, Dejan soon learns of a impossible catastrophe: the young lab technician he spoke with earlier has vanished into thin air without a trace. None of the sophisticated police monitoring devices and equipment can account for her disappearance - she is just plain gone.
And then a third call from an old poet requiring the immediate presence of one and only one person: Dejan Lukić. The inspector races off anticipating what he might find - and, as expected, quizzical book and note number three. When Dejan makes his next stop, the plot really begins to thicken. Again, so as to let a reader make their own discoveries of what happens next and then next and then next, I'll shift to several themes:
Tight Trio - The Last Book and The Grand Manuscript are frequently referenced. This to say, reading The Papyrus Trilogy in sequence is ideal and will prove a much richer, rewarding experience. As in the first two volumes, once again the National Security Agency responsible for domestic terrorism plays their part, only Commissioner Milenković has now retired (the events in The Grand Manuscript were a bit much for him). And there’s the Grand Master and his secret society as well as a new chief inspector, a woman by the name of Vesna Uskokoivić who keeps a large cage with two parrots in her office (lovely touch!) and is an avid reader of literature. Lastly, readers will be pleased to know, Vera, owner of the now defunct Papyrus Bookstore and Dejan's lover, is back on the scene.
Noteworthy Novel - Recall I mentioned a young lady in the police lab. Her name is Ana Mirković and Dijan recommended she read José Saramago’s Death with Interruptions. Compendium of the Dead picks up their exchange of ideas relating to this modern classic. Since Saramago’s novel revolves around death as both a physical fact and a deeply rooted social and cultural phenomenon, it is well to keep the Portuguese novelist’s work in mind when reading Compendium of the Dead. If you haven’t actually read Death with Interruptions, then familiarizing yourself with the basic outline of the story will certainly be sufficient.
Crossing Realities - Zoran Živković has noted the Middle-European fantastika tradition features only minor deviations from reality rather than large scale dramatic events. As such deviations occurred in both The Last Book and The Grand Manuscript, so a sliding into the realm of the impossible takes place in Compendium of the Dead. However, the deviation isn't a demonic plunge into cosmic Lovecraftian horror; rather, it is more in the spirit of what one finds in Nikolai Gogol's The Nose, a deviation that captivates and charms rather than terrifies.
Magical Metafiction – Recognizing metafiction is writing about writing, at one point Dejan Lukić muses on an author acting out of his own universe and how an author’s interventions cannot be arbitrary since he has to take into account the overall coherence of what he is writing. Added to this, Compendium of the Dead touches on the deus ex machina, a peculiar literary device a number of critics over the years have looked upon with disfavor. But, I can assure you, in the hands of a master of the craft such as Zoran Živković, even a deus ex machina adds a unforgettable charm and appeal. I urge you to read all three books of The Papyrus Trilogy to discover the hidden magic in each volume.
Compendium of the Dead is available as a standalone novel and as part of The Papyrus Trilogy, both published by Cadmus Press
Serbian author Zoran Živković, born 1948
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