The 2022 Winter Issue of B O D Y nears its end with my review of My Seven Lives by Agneša Kalinová and Jana Juráňová, translated from the Slovak by Julia and Peter Sherwood. The book is an interview memoir that covers Kalinová’s eventful life and is a fascinating reflection of 20th century history in […]
“There was fascism, there was communism and the bugbears of communism. Now, there is, supposedly, none of that, and all the filth of those times has been swept under the carpet.” – from Canzone di Guerra by Daša Drndić, translated from the Croatian by Celia Hawkesworth. B O D Y’s Winter Issue rolls on with […]
“One of those things most difficult to convey about the special conditions in which we lived was the visegradišag: that everything, buying bread, recycling, riding the tram, came with a surreal associated cost that was impossible to anticipate and could range in consequence from mild discomfort to soul-shattering alienation, forcing you to withdraw from the […]
“I would say that it is difficult to forget a language that you learned as a child, even if you learned it by force. A language in which you know all the games, the stories and songs. A language in which you made your first friends and have fond memories. It is possible, but it […]
“Of all the sins, I liked envy best because it seemed the most dangerous. The others were more obvious: lust compels you to possess; pride, to act superior; greed, to hoard money; sloth, to do nothing; wrath, to attack; gluttony, to eat. Envy compels you to desire without consummation. It is an empty, unending sin…” […]
“The woman walked across the terrace, sat at the table in the dining room, put the bird in her lap, and waited. There was probably something smarter one was supposed to do in such cases, but she didn’t know what it was. She’d heard that when a horse broke its leg, it always got shot. […]
The opener of B O D Y’s Winter Issue in 2022 is an amazing short story “The Relay” by the author of Aberrant, Marek Šindelka, translated from the Czech by Graeme Dibble. The story comes from Šindelka’s 2014 collection Mapa Anny (A Map of Ann). Read the story here Read my interview with Šindelka in […]
The Winter Issue of B O D Y will be published throughout February and has an even more European, literature-in-translation focus than usual. There will be fiction, poetry and interviews ranging from Wales to Moldova and Croatia. Tune in tomorrow for a newly translated short story by the author of Aberrant, Marek Šindelka. Read more […]
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