“On the windowsill lay the manuscript, a rectangular-shaped embodiment of her guilty conscience. The languishing strength of the early winter sun sent a shudder down Nóra’s spine. Her attempt at making an airplane resulted in a hat.” – from “Chinese Snow” by Miklós Vámos, translated from Hungarian by Ági Bori. Read more of the Spring […]
‘You’ll be much more at ease! You’ll be a more interesting person,’ she said about my recent breakup. For a few months I didn’t sleep well. Budapest might be the town with the most ambulances and fire trucks flying by. It must be the most unfortunate metropolis in Europe. Every single siren woke me up. […]
Many people think of the earliest science-fiction as being exclusively British and French, but in fact a couple books about to be published by Jantar Press show that this is far from true. The Science of the Stars by Gustáv Reuss and Newton’s Brain by Jakub Arbes are two early sci-fi books from Slovakia and […]
On Oct 13 from 2-3:30 pm (EST) there will be a reading and event devoted to Libuše Moníková’s novel Transfigured Night, a novel by the émigré Czech writer recently published by Karolinum Press. Whereas Kundera’s transition from Czech to French in his emigration has been much discussed and documented, the much lesser-known Moníková’s writing in […]
“When I looked up again, I could see only that my father was stuffing the doll, leg first, into the stove, after the rags. You could see how these caught fire amid the orange glow of the embers, the doll taking only seconds to shrivel up into something unrecognisable, though the rags flopped about as […]
“I was born a feral beast. At the time of my birth, I tore my mother apart. It wasn’t on purpose. I think the circumstances caused it. There was a lot of blood in the hospital room. My father, who gutted animals as part of his occupation, couldn’t bear to look.” – from “A Western […]
“We had stopped here and there along the way—at important spots, where he had seen a deer for the first time or where he’d had his first kiss. So I didn’t get to see the landscape while it was still light, and now only saw it as elongated shadows that the hills were casting over […]
“Reaching this point, Rabbi Nachman felt the urge to make a pause, not even he knew why, and lifting his eyes from the book, he saw on the threshold of the open door the tall thin figure of the wayfarer with the tangled white beard, the clear blue eyes sunken in their sockets, the long […]
This week I will be publishing a selection of contemporary Latvian writing in B O D Y. The issue starts with a couple poems by Inga Pizāne. There will also selections of poetry from Anna Belkavska and Semyon Khanin. A short story, “Victory” by Jānis Joņevs rounds out the week’s writing. Latvian Lit Week: Inga […]
The latest issue of The Continental is out and includes my essay, “Fatherlessland”, a work about my father’s death, Prague as a city and film set, Nazis past and present, and a few other topics as well. The issue also includes an interview with Fran Lebowitz, a ghost story by film director Abel Ferrara, an […]
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