• Publisher: Beletrina
• 324 pages
• Author: Alojz Ihan
• Original title: Karantena

The novel coronavirus Covid-19 spreads from China and grows into a pan- demic. Powerless, humanity faces what becomes, world wars excluded, the most expensive social upheaval in history. Could anyone, before the appear- ance of the miniscule virus, have thought of a reason for the whole world to suddenly stop travelling, for tourism, sports, events, the entire hospitality industry, parties, to all shut down?

Paradoxically, the pandemic causes a small group of people who up until then had few decision-making powers – microbiologists, epidemiologists, specialists in infectious diseases – to suddenly have a decisive say in social and economic decisions with consequences reaching into

tens, hundreds of billions.

Power(less) turns the spotlight on the people who, out of total anonymity, step into the foreground and become a symbol of immense power. New tycoons, new mafia and new methods of corruption are juxtaposed with a paean of powerlessness and the admission of (own) human weak- ness, through which people recognise each other as tragic players in the same drama. They see in each other beings similar to themselves, beings that need urgent help if we want the miracle that once began with the incarnation to continue, even if after our own demise.

About the author

Alojz Ihan

Alojz Ihan (1961) is a renowned doctor, specialist in clinical micro- biology, Chair and regular professor at the Department of Microbiology and Immunology of the Faculty

of Medicine at the University of Ljubljana and Head of Department for Immunology at the Faculty’s Institute for Microbiology. He began working at the Institute a year after graduating and received his PhD

in Medicine in 1993. Prior to this, he also worked for two years in the National Institute for Cancer Research in Genoa and after his

doctorate held a research fellowship in the United States. Beside his pro- fessional, educational and research work, he also pursues his literary interests. He was editor of literary journals Problemi, Literatura and Sodobnost as well as the book series Aleph. He has published six collec- tions of poetry, three novels, three books of essays, and two books on popular science. He has received numerous awards for his literary work, among others the Prešeren Fund Award, Slovenia’s highest award for artistic achievements.