The Diaries of Adam and Eve

THE DIARIES OF ADAM AND EVE (in the original title Nevidni otrok the second word means both "child" and "island", with both applying in a number of meanings to central characters, who happen to be called Adam and Eve) is one of the most unusual and complex novels by the world-renowned Evald Flisar (242 translations of his work are available in 40 languages). It is one of the most unusual "love stories" in the treasury of world literature, claims Alenka Urh, the author of the Afterword published with the novel (she is currently President of the Slovenian Society of Literary Critics). Adam and Eve are a young couple who desperately want a child, but cannot have one, because one of them is infertile. Unable to communicate openly, they secretly read each other's diaries, and in their need to have a child finally invent one. The problem is that each invents a different one and that by clinging to their images, living in a world that is reality and fiction at the same time, their lives take a turn for disaster. The novel requires dedicated reading, but is endowed with many layers of meaning, open to many interpretations, rich with unexpected twists and turns, forcing us to doubt the certainty of what we perceive as reality.