Elijev stol

In the novel Elijah’s Chair, Igor Štiks describes the unusual fate of Richard Richter, an Austrian writer about to turn fifty. Following an emotional crisis and marriage breakdown, the hero leaves Paris to return to his hometown of Vienna, where he finds his mother’s hidden notebook. Its shocking contents, written in the dramatic circumstances of 1941, thoroughly transforms Richter’s own life. The writer decides to find his roots and his quest leads him to the wartime Sarajevo, where he arrives at the very start of the siege. During his short stay in Sarajevo he experiences the most beautiful moments of his life – a passionate love and a true friendship. However, his life, just like the lives of all other characters in the novel, is determined by fate that he, just like the heroes of a Greek tragedy, cannot evade and cannot influence.