D A N I L O P E S H I K A N
Peshikan, an artist with unique skills revealed in his text
1950 - 2010
As a writer, Danilo Peshikan’s ambition was to produce books of indisputable value. The language in his books is unique and the best indicator of his extraordinary mastery. He was an artist in diving through layers and layers of culture. His extraordinary artistic skills are revealed in his text, impregnated with the play of shadows and lights, fragrances and recollections, childish longings and wisdom. The multi-layernes of the author’s language, the allusions, the metaphorical dimension—all those literary devices are counterbalanced by the linearity of the plots and the followability of the intrigues.
As a wanderer across parallels and meridians, as a citizen of the world, the writer’s collections are free of the mental traumas and complexity of his life. He does not delve into the melancholic tangle of homesickness but engages directly into cosmopolitan spiritual communication with enviable self-esteem.
The Author’s fascinating life and original, mastery style
Danilo Peshikan, (this is not a pen name but a real name), reveals some fascinating facts of his family history, a trigger for his philosophical concept in his writing, and the uniqueness of his books.
"My first name is Russian. My surname is Swiss. But there is nothing French or German left in me. Almost 300 years ago the name belonged to a Swiss landsknecht who emigrated to Russia as many Swiss and Germans did then to serve in the Russian army. An antecedent of his served under Kutuzov during the Napoleonic wars, became a colonel, and was given a barony by Alexander I."
Danilo earned a master degree in Computer Science. As a programmer, he was a part of the science and technology intelligentsia. A skilled programmer, he had an abstract logical thought, densified it till he produced a picture, which he then simplified. The original, mastery style of Peshikan’s prose makes him easily recognizable. The titles in his books illustrate the writer’s unfamiliarity with striving for external verbal exoticism yet, the unattainable spirit of the exceptional is present in all his stories. The characters in his work are challengingly unconventional types, wandering our planet both outwardly and inwardly. The punchline of his stories is "Does not our happiness wave beckoningly to us in the same way (just a premonition or two), before our lives pass by behind a window, forgotten by everyone?"
Peshikan worked and lived in Paris, lectured for three years at the University of Zimbabwe, and moved with his family to Australia. While overseas, he worked as a programmer and was a special correspondent for the Literary Forum, a publication of the Bulgarian Writers. Danilo’s critical article, “Variations on the subject of freedom”, published in the Literary Forum, is a part of his book Shadows of Invisible Dogs. The short story "From top to bottom" published in the Unconquerable Armada, an Anthology of the contemporary Bulgarian author is included in the short stories of Shadows of Invisible Dogs. The collection of his novellas, Stranger, saw the light of day in 1992 and was translated into English and published in 2014. In Sydney, Danilo wrote his novel Filiad, completed shortly before he passed away.
"It no longer surprises anyone that for quite a number of authors, writing is a way and means to procure a reality. Yet Danilo Peshikan does it with а full awareness of the ceaseless variability of reality, and its tendency to flee beyond the horizon of visions and perceptions, of anticipations and hopes. As all this registers in the profound concept of author's novels, it will have the same impact as René Magritte’s famous phrase 'This is not a pipe!' only inverted, 'The pipe is not this!'"—Iren Ivancheva
