• Publisher: Beletrina
• 304 pages
• Author: Mitja Čander
• Original title: Slepec

The main character, and narrator, in Blind Man is a successful book editor and critic who has had problems with his eyesight since birth. Despite this, he has never had much to do with the visually impaired community and doesn’t really feel like he is one of them. But when he is offered a chance to enter the world of politics, he is “blinded” by the lure of power, and this easy-going, level-headed husband and soon-to-be father gradually turns into a self-absorbed careerist.

The author, without pontificating and with a measured dose of humour, paints a critical, unsparing portrait of a small European country and through it a convincing satire on the psychological state of contem-

porary European society. What, or who, do we still believe in today, and who should we trust? Politicians, apparatchiks, the media? The bureaucratic system? Greater and lesser lumi- naries? Empty pledges, absurd situations?

Speeches laden with buzzwords and grandiose promises break down the flimsy façade, as the protagonist’s own inse- curity suggests that things are not always what they seem. In the end, social blindness is worse than any physical impair- ment, and worst of all is to be blinded by your own ego.

About the author

Mitja Čander

For decades, Mitja Čander (1974) has been one of the most influential figures in Slovenia’s literary and publishing world – even though his literary debut, Blind Man (Slepec), appeared only in 2019. An editor and literary critic, the co-founder and director of Beletrina Academic Press, essayist, screenwriter, dramaturge, columnist, and candidate for national chess master, Čander has accomplished many things in his career and taken a leading role in a number of major projects, such as Maribor – The European Capital of Culture (2012). Since 1992, he has published many articles and essays on Slovenian and world literature and received numerous awards for his work. A wide- ranging intellectual, he is a regular participant

in discussions that reach far beyond the cultural sphere, so it was only a matter of time (and genre) before he tried his hand at writing fiction.