The anthology short story “Scary Night” by Slavko Janevski, is considered to be one of the most
beautiful short stories in Macedonian literature.
The setting of the sh rt story “Scary Nights” is located in a small town, with “narrow paths, squeezed among the old houses on both sides, colorful and with red cocks on the eaves”. In that small town, there is a small toy shop where an old shop assistant works. After the delivery of the new box with toys – led toy soldiers,
airplanes, and tanks, the shop assistant leaves the shop, and right after that, deep into the night, some events started happening on the boundary between the dream and reality, between reality and fiction. The fight starts between the new toys and the toys sitting on the shop`s shelves for so long, a fight that reminds us of the eternal fight between generations, but also of the archetype which is illustrated through the myth of Beowulf (the coming of the hero and his timely end), for the antiquity (the heritage) that needs to be changed or replaced by today`s and future`s requirements. But there is also the old shop assistant as he somehow begins to doubt himself, either because of the oldness or because of the night spent in the pub. Who will win the fight, remains to be seen in the picture book itself? Andonova has built the character of the old shop assistant upon the character of Slavko Janevski.
The language of Slavko Janevski is expressive and picturesque, but apart from that he wants to get the mistic atmosphere, he remains moderate in the expression, and the illustrations of Natasa perfectly follow the rhythm of the narration, showing the atmosphere from silent and peaceful into disturbed and wild, and then again going back to the initial flow, although nothing is the same as before.
