Kate Zambreno

The Bosnian-born local writer learned English by highlighting the difficult words in Vladimir Nabokov's "Lolita." Nabokov once joked that his masterpiece on the maddening nymphet was an exercise in making love to the English language. Well, if Nabokov went all the way, Hemon has compared his debut collection of stories, "The Question of Bruno" to "heavy petting." "I guess I've moved on to first base," he told me in an interview about last year's follow-up, "Nowhere Man," now out in a snazzy Vintage paperback. Expect quite a love session as the New Yorker darling reads selections from his stranger in a strange land novel "Nowhere Man," about Josef Pronek, first featured in "The Question of Bruno," who, like Hemon, arrives in Chicago in 1992, and chooses to stay when war breaks out at home.

Aleksandar Hemon reads on February 5 at 7:30pm at Barbara's, 1350 North Wells, (312)642-5044, and on February 10 at 5:30pm at the Harold Washington Library Center, 400 South State, (312)747-4300.

(2004-02-03)

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