Is “Fajront” in Sarajevo the Same as “Closing Time” Elsewhere?

When it was published in 2014, Fajront u Sarajevu [Closing Time in Sarajevo] enjoyed a major success with its Serbian readership. Written by Dr Nele Karajlić, the ex-frontman of Yugoslav band Zabranjeno Pušenje, this best-selling memoir describes the author growing up during the socialist 1960s and ’70s, the simultaneous blossoming of the Yugoslav rock and roll scene and his own band, and finally, the climate leading to the dissolution of the country and his dreams. Using a language that is neither proper Serbian nor Bosnian, but a characteristic urban dialect that was a hallmark of Sarajevo, Karajlić depicts the sentimental atmosphere of a bygone society that still echoes in the lives of those who shared this geographical, historical and cultural background. This chapter addresses the challenges that such a culturally and socio-historically based work poses to a literary translator, and examines the translational strategies and methods for transferring the zeitgeist captured in this book into a language and culture as distant as English.