Literary Sail Along the Danube – Reading Excerpts

The reading of excerpts from the book of travel essays ‘Along the Danube’, written by the French writer Emmanuel Ruben and published by Akademska knjiga, will take place on 9 May at the Liberty Square, at the stand of the French Institute.

In summer 2016, Emmanuel Ruben and one of his friends set off on a bicycle trip through Europe. It took them 48 days to cross the route from the Black Sea coast to the Danube’s source in Schwarzwald.

In his book, Ruben reveals a little-known mosaic of Southeastern Europe. He takes us through the history and culture of the people populating that area. Ruben wrote most of his travelogues while staying in Novi Sad. In this cycling odyssey, the two friends make their way through the swamps of the Danube and Euroasian steppes in Romania, Bulgarian beaches, Djerdap gorge, the Hungarian border surrounded by barbed wire fences. Behind their decision to follow the river in the direction of air currents lies a complex story of the obstruction of European political borders.

Thanks to Academic Book and the French Institute in Serbia, we will host a contemporary Gulliver, Emanuel Ruben, the French writer of the younger generation, whose novel ‘The Snow Line’ was shortlisted for the Goncourt Prize