“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 […]
“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 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 […]
The November 2021 issue of the Bosphorus Review of Books features my short story, “The Underwater City”. Read it here
“…with the index finger of my left hand I write in the grime on the windows on the even-numbered side, ‘Yes Vico! No Vice!’, and with my right arm I sweep up the beauties standing on the odd-numbered side and whisper obscenities in their ears. And when I get bored of this, with both hands […]
“And may I ask where the present-day annihilators of your history happen to come from?” Aaron asked with ill-concealed irony.Gregor, in mid-sip, didn’t need to wait to speak to provide an answer. With apologetic eyes peering over the rim of his glass he pointed at the two of us. Seeing this the waiter scurried over […]
“The carriage begins to pick up speed. I want to lean forward and ask Roman if he’s okay, but when I look out again, I see, for the first time, people in the windows of a villa. They are staring expectantly up at the now pitch-black sky. The speed of the horses alarms their dogs […]
“Then there is a veritable panorama of the immediate post-’68 emigration process itself: from the border crossings that, again, resemble neither the dangerous escapes of previous eras nor those that would follow when the regime would seal the border. There are nervous train rides; nostalgic car rides; last looks; and sad goodbyes. There is Vienna, […]
Recently, I spoke with Czech writer Marek Šindelka about his novels Aberrant and Material Fatigue, his graphic novel Sv. Barbora, going from being a poet to a prose writer and a number of other issues. You can read the full article in Apofenie magazine here. To get a copy of Aberrant from Twisted Spoon Press […]
literalab 