Slobodan Šnajder

“Czas Miedzi”

The Brass Age

“The Brass Age” is widely regarded as Slobodan Šnajder’s masterpiece. At its centre is the story of the author’s family, especially his father, who was conscripted into the Wehrmacht during World War II. 

Kempf and his companions leave their homeland for Slavonia, hoping for a better future. But by 1940, Europe is again at war and the German minority is called to fight for the Reich—a land no longer their own. Šnajder crafts a sweeping family saga and historical novel about generations bound by history and doomed to inherit conflicting destinies.

The novel has been met with critical acclaim. Le Monde wrote: “Like Olga Tokarczuk, Šnajder has created a novel about a Europe that lost its diversity and was destroyed by fascism, communism, and, more recently, nationalism… A contemporary epic.” The Croatian daily Jutarnji list was equally enthusiastic: “This is without doubt the most important novel in Croatian literature in recent years.”