Lend Me Your Character

From the story of Steffie Cvek to ''The Kharms Case,'' the pieces in Dubravka Ugresic''s collection Lend Me Your Character are always smart and endlessly entertaining. The former story paints a picture of a harassed and vulnerable typist whose life is shaped entirely by cliches. She searches endlessly for an elusive romantic love in a narrative punctuated by threadbare advice from women''s magazines and constructed like a sewing pattern. The latter story is one of Ugresic''s funniest and is about the strained relationship between a persistent translator and an unresponsive publisher. The stories collected in Lend Me Your Character, the novella ''Steffie Cvek in the Jaws of Life,'' and a collection of short stories entitled ''Life Is a Fairy Tale'' solidify Ugresic''s reputation as one of Eastern Europe''s most playful and inventive writers.