Translated from the Russian by Mariya Gusev #end_of_the_world_diary I read the news that Putin put nuclear weapons on high alert, decided to enjoy life for the last time, went to a coffee shop, drank a mango sea buckthorn smoothie. It was very tasty. At a nearby table, two blondes with oversized lips are arguing with […]
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End of the World Diary, Pt. I – Natalia Klyuchareva
Translated from the Russian by Mariya Gusev Throughout this week, which will close out the first month of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Literalab will publish the writing of Natalia Klyuchareva. “The End of the World Diary” recounts her reactions during the war’s opening week. “March 6” tells about her experience attending an anti-war rally. […]
‘Prague Fatale’: in the crossfire of Czech resistance and the Butcher of Prague
WWII-era crime novel depicts hunt for Czech resistance fighters, their German contact and enactment of a seemingly impossible crime Prague Fatale is the eighth book by Philip Kerr that follows hard-nosed Berlin homicide detective Bernie Gunther as he navigates his way between the world of everyday street murders and the much more menacing variety of […]
Russian voices of dissent
As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues along with the war of information accompanying it there has been a tendency to turn away from anything Russian as a gesture of solidarity with Ukraine. What this leaves out are Russian voices of dissent, voices that speak out despite the growing and significant risks involved. Among those […]
My Seven Lives | Review
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 […]
Literary Roundup: Nelly Sachs, EUPL Prize and Sorokin on Putin
The nominees for the 2022 European Union Prize for Literature have been announced. The award is changing this year, with the jury choosing a single overall winner rather than one from each country. There are 14 nominees this year ranging from Ukraine and Georgia to Ireland and Spain. Among the selected writers is Slovakia’s Richard […]
Daša Drndić in B O D Y
“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 […]
Duncan Robertson in B O D Y
“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 […]
Tatiana Tîbuleac in B O D Y
“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 […]
Marina Porras in B O D Y
“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…” […]
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