It’s 1481, and as seen from the centers of power in Rome and Venice, the cultures of Europe are under threat from the expansion of the Ottoman Empire. When the exalted Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror dies, his eldest son, Bayezid, takes the throne. However, discontented factions within the Ottoman army urge Mehmed’s second son, Cem, a well-educated and experienced warrior, to oppose his brother’s ascension, igniting a ruthless power struggle and forcing Cem into long years of exile, a pawn for European rulers who are desperate to preserve the order they have imposed on the continent over the course of centuries.

The Case of Cem, Vera Mutafchieva’s celebrated novel of court intrigue, maintains lasting resonance for being a personal exploration of emigration and loss set in the historical era during which the politics of the East and West were sketched out with utter clarity. These early lines of demarcation, as voiced through Christian and Muslim emissaries, greedy leaders, unflinching soldiers, and lyrical poets, have indelibly influenced the world as we know it today.

Vera Mutafchieva (1929-2009) is one of the most influential Bulgarian writers of the 20th century and undisputedly the most prominent female novelist in the Bulgarian canon. A historian of the Ottoman Empire by training, Mutafchieva is known for her intricate historical novels that offer nuanced insight into the complex layers of Balkan history, with its Slavic, Ottoman, and Byzantine Greek threads. After the success of The Cem Affair in 1967, Mutafchieva shifted her energy primarily toward literary endeavors, writing 35 books that feature figures from Balkan history, ranging from Bulgarian tsars to the Byzantine princess Anna Komina. Mutafchieva’s works have been translated into more than a dozen languages and have enjoyed particular popularity in neighboring Balkan countries.

Angela Rodel is a literary translator who holds degrees from Yale and UCLA. Nine Bulgarian novels in her translation have been published in the US and UK, and shorter works have appeared in McSweeney’s, Two Lines, Ploughshares, Words Without Borders, and elsewhere. She has received NEA and PEN translation grants. Her translation of Georgi Gospodinov’s Physics of Sorrow won the 2016 AATSEEL Prize for Literary Translation as well as an NEA Translation grant. Her translation of his novel Time Shelter was featured on The New Yorker’s list of Best Books of 2022 and won the 2023 International Booker Prize. Since 2015 she has served as executive director of the Bulgarian-American Fulbright Commission.

Eric Lorberer holds a B.A. in English Literature and Humanities from Washington College and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He has published poems, essays, and criticism in numerous magazines and has been awarded a SASE/Jerome Fellowship for his writing. As the editor of Rain Taxi Review of Books, he is responsible for the voice and style that has brought the magazine widespread acclaim. Lorberer is also the director of the Twin Cities Book Festival, has served as a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, and speaks at conferences and literary festivals around the country as an advocate for independent publishing and literary culture.

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