On March 24, 2011 Czech-born French writer Milan Kundera will become just the twelfth writer to have his collected works published in the prestigious Bibliothèque de La Pléiade edition during his lifetime. Published by Gallimard, the initial volume will include Kundera’s novels originally written in Czech, which form the bulk of his work. Having left […]
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Literary Theft – Drunken Boat issue #13
The latest issue of Drunken Boat is out, including my short story “Literary Theft” – a story about, among other things – a literary theft, St. Petersburg and a nefarious urban legend. “Literary theft!” Ivan cried, suddenly going into some kind of rapture. “You stole that from my poem!”—Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov Read the story […]
The Uses of Kafka
Franz Kafka never had the fortune, whether good or bad, of being just a writer. During his lifetime he hardly published anything and had a firm principle against making his living with his pen. After his death it became even worse. He went from being a one-man Jewish oracle to a 20th Century prophet of […]
Andrzej Stasiuk on the controversial Golden Harvest
Polish writer Andrzej Stasiuk has written a compelling article about the interlinked history of the Polish and Jewish people at the Central European Forum’s Salon site. It comes in response to the controversy arising out of the upcoming publication of the book Golden Harvest (Złote żniwa) by Jan Tomasz Gross and Irena-Grudzińska Gross, which was […]
Prague and the Jerusalem International Book Festival
Link: Prague and the Jerusalem International Book Festival This year’s Jerusalem Prize might have gone to Ian McEwan, but the week-long event has a number of connections to the Czech capital, whether it be the Prague-born writers attending or ties going further back into the city’s storied past.
The shadows of Central Europe
Link: The shadows of Central Europe The Conspirators by Michael Andre Bernstein shows another side of the Central European literary heritage, that of the region as a setting and a subject, maybe even, with its cafe conspirators, religious fanatics and haunted self-made men, as a whole genre in itself.
The Slovak fiction scene – Part II – Michal Hvorecký
Link: The Slovak fiction scene – Part II – Michal Hvorecký The second part of a review of the Slovak issue of the Dalkey Archive Press’ Review of Contemporary Fiction looking at an extract from Michal Hvorecký’s novel The Escort
Jan Balabán – writer on fire
“You’re asking whether there can be an innocent painting? What kind of a question is that? Innocent – how?” Hans glanced at the pictures around him. “A painting that would bear a direct relationship to reality, simply and openly, without any gimmicks, irony or hyperbole, or any other twisted perspectives,” Michal, the painter, developed his […]
Slovak Fiction – Part I – Ursula Kovalyk
What can you say about Slovak fiction and the need to collect the work of some of its contemporary practitioners without having recourse to the inane cliché that it’s a way of learning about another part of the world? Because while some of the stories in the Dalkey Archive Press’ Review of Contemporary Fiction issue […]
Belarus Free Theatre escapes to New York
Evading intensifying KGB searches members of the Belarus Free Theatre managed to cross the Belarusian border and have arrived in New York to perform in the Under the Radar international alternative festival. “We’ve truly been under the radar, in hiding in a real detective story,” group co-founder Natalia Koliada told the New York Times in […]
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