We are delighted to welcome Jan Zikmund of Karolinum Press along with translator Julia Sherwood and literary scholar Tim Beasley-Murray here to Hatchards this evening for a discussion of Slovak literature and, in particular, two recently translated prose works of the mid-20th century:
The Hours and the Minutes by Alfonz Bednár translated by David Short
The Hours and The Minutes was first published in Bratislava in 1956, the year of Nikita Khrushchev’s “secret speech”, in which the Soviet leader formally acknowledged Stalin’s tyranny and opened the way for political reform throughout the Eastern Bloc. Alfonz Bednár was one of the first writers to reject nationalist and communist propaganda. In these five novellas, Bednár is preoccupied with the insensitive, even inhuman, rootless, and amoral modernity that the war and Communist Party imported into traditional Slovak life, as well as the rural destruction brought about by modernization and urbanization, and with it a particular approach to life.
The Last Thing by Leopold Lahola translated by Julia Sherwood and Peter Sherwood
Slovak Jewish writer Leopold Lahola escaped deportation to a concentration camp and fought in the resistance – only to then find himself forced into exile by the post-war communist regime. He emerged from obscurity during the brief thaw of the Prague Spring. The nine stories which make up The Last Thing range from the pre-war rise of fascism and its dangers for the Jewish community through the concentration camps and the partisan fight against the Germans, concluding in the devastating awareness of all that had been lost and destroyed in the war. It’s a collection that offers not only a compelling read but starkly new perspectives on the tragedy and grandeur of that momentous time in history.
We hope you will be able to join us if you can for what promises to be a fascinating evening of discussion!
