Yolk Short Stories Author:Josip Novakovich Yolk is a reflective and sometimes bizarre collection of stories by Croat writer-in-exile Josip Novakovich. Incorporating themes of unrequited love, obsession, war, faith, displacement, and death rituals, Novakovich's singular style reveals his affection for paradox and absurdity. — Set primarily in Eastern Europe, these folktales also... more » display Novakovich's unique social critique and dry wit. But more than the topicality gives the work its weight: the characters in Yolk touch on the universals of human experience-- the sublime as well as the base. The stories carry an odd notion of decay and infirmity, sexual peculiarity, and disturbed characters, all under the guise of a "once upon a time" innocence.