The Club of True Creators / Milan Tripković

Serbian novelist Milan Tripkovic’s The Club of True Creators, a novel that mixes suspense and social commentary with generous applications of humor, features a bevy of intriguing characters. Included among the distinct personalities one meets are those in the club of titular reference, distinctly drawn but having in common a perception of themselves as literary lions bearing the responsibility of preserving traditional culture against the intrusion of contemporary, Western-influenced Serbian literature and society. In the aftermath of a scene in which Creator Vojislav Pocuca is witness to an automotive bashing of war criminal Rajko Pesut, a bashing Pocuca is narcissistically convinced was intended for himself, he and Serbian intelligence agents led by corrupt and curmudgeonly sergeant Marjan Kostres, are propelled forth in separate subplots and for disparate reasons on adventures that coalesce in a masterful conclusion combining serious social commentary with wit and empathy. The reader could recall Kafka in the novelist’s focus on the absurdities and injustices wrought by those in authority; even closer to the spirit of The Club of True Creators, is the work of American novelist Kurt Vonnegut, portraying with alternately dark and whimsical humor a cast of imperfect characters in a society fraught with scars, both historical and contemporary. But then Milan Tripkovic’s work, complete with a contingent of plural narrators who lend great forward movement to the plot and subplots, delivers in this novel a singular accomplishment.