Josef Skvorecky is a classic?
If so, then why not Vizinczey? (His review of one of Von Rezzori's books was the most annihilating I've ever read and put me off Von Rezzori forever.)
Confession of bias: for me, Central Europe means Hungary and then a vague region around it.
― alimosina, Tuesday, 4 May 2010 20:48 (thirteen years ago) link
Read Krudy's Sunflower (NYRB) and thought it was fantastic. His short stories would be interesting.I would love to get ahold of some of these. Any idea if there'll be American versions too?
― wmlynch, Tuesday, 4 May 2010 22:06 (thirteen years ago) link
The description of the Mrozek book is making me drool.
― wmlynch, Tuesday, 4 May 2010 22:07 (thirteen years ago) link
Bought them all, except the Capek, which I already had, and is brilliant.
why not Vizinczey
Penguin did just publish him as a classic a few months ago.
The covers are by gray318: http://bookcoverarchive.com/gray318
― Attention please, a child has been lost in the tunnel of goats. (James Morrison), Wednesday, 5 May 2010 00:14 (thirteen years ago) link
I have all the Krudy available in English to date, and bought this collection as soon as I opened this thread. 'Sunflower' is great, but 'Adventures of Sindbad' is just my favorite book.
― Soukesian, Thursday, 20 May 2010 19:32 (thirteen years ago) link
ws listing ...Sinbad in the books bought thread the other day.
The new LRB has a review of Cioran and an overview of his work.
― xyzzzz__, Thursday, 20 May 2010 19:41 (thirteen years ago) link
Re Faludy: gotta love somebody who broke up with his male partner of 36 years to marry a 26-year-old woman, at the age of 92.
(Well, unless you were a Hungarian friend of mine. She just shook her head and went tsk, tsk, tsk.)
― alimosina, Thursday, 20 May 2010 19:52 (thirteen years ago) link
Link to a talk around this...
― xyzzzz__, Monday, 24 May 2010 09:55 (thirteen years ago) link
thanks for the tip on the cioran art, julio, picked up the LRB this afternoon :)
I really should renew my subscription
― cozen, Monday, 24 May 2010 15:22 (thirteen years ago) link
noticed there's a michael wood article on wire and tremeh in there too
― cozen, Monday, 24 May 2010 15:28 (thirteen years ago) link
Three stories into the Krudy, and it's glorious stuff, his own pick of his best short writing.
― Soukesian, Monday, 24 May 2010 18:03 (thirteen years ago) link
Ws reading Sinbad today: it is a marvel.
No probs Cozen - thoroughly enjoyed my one year 'gift' subscription (if I wasn't on it I'd probably get hold of 1 in 3 issues). The main thing is the archive: currently reading an article on Milosz from Dec '81.
― xyzzzz__, Monday, 24 May 2010 18:43 (thirteen years ago) link
are these sold in a bundle somewhere?
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Tuesday, 25 May 2010 10:30 (thirteen years ago) link
saw them 3 for 2 in blackwells today if that helps
― thomp, Wednesday, 26 May 2010 09:43 (thirteen years ago) link
What about Eastern Eastern Europe: Bulgaria, the former Balkans, the Baltics, Ukraine, and further toward Asia even...anyone explored that? It just struck me there is almost nothing I can think of whereas there is lots of Poles, Czechs, Hunagarians, the odd Romanian -- *big gap* --- Russians.
― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 2 October 2010 20:46 (thirteen years ago) link
Good point--Dalkey Archivr has some fascinating-looking stuff from these countries. I need to investigate further.
― buildings with goats on the roof (James Morrison), Monday, 4 October 2010 01:19 (thirteen years ago) link
Stuff from the big pile of Harvills in our flat which I enjoyed:
Gustav Herling (Poland): The Island Milos Tsernianski (Serbia): MigrationsSlobodan Selenic (Serbia, born Croatia): Premeditated Murder (btw I was much less keen on his "Father and Forefathers)
Stuff from the big pile of Harvills which remain to be read but which I am assured are very fine:
Ivo Andric (Bosnia): Bosnian ChronicleJaan Kross (Estonia): The Czar's Madman
If you're including Albania you can count all of those Kadare novels (I think my favourite is "The Pyramid" actually, but I'm a sucker for a project management novel).
If you're being otherwise generous in definition, there's Aleksandar Hemon, a Bosnian (I think) now based in Chicago and writing brilliantly in English.
I have no idea whether all or any of the above count as "classics" obv.
― Tim, Monday, 4 October 2010 10:31 (thirteen years ago) link
Great. Ivo Andric is all I've heard of (he won the Nobel).
A project management novel sounds irresistible. Off I go to meet my milestones!
― xyzzzz__, Monday, 4 October 2010 20:55 (thirteen years ago) link
I just read "Bosnian Chronicle", inspired by this thread. It's tremendous, although I found it very slow going. It's about Bosnia, but you only really see Bosnia around the edges of the main plot, which centres on the French (and to an extent Austrian) consulate in Travnik during the Napoleonic wars.
It doesn't sound very nice there, then.
― Tim, Wednesday, 10 November 2010 10:30 (thirteen years ago) link
So writing about what he knows then? Andric was an ambassador.
I've read so much about the moment of decline of the Austro-Hungarian empire that I haven't got round to actually reading that much about its heyday.
― xyzzzz__, Thursday, 11 November 2010 21:21 (thirteen years ago) link
lol
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Thursday, 11 November 2010 21:34 (thirteen years ago) link
May be of interest.
https://www.calvertjournal.com/features/show/12441/100-books-eastern-europe-central-asia
― Scampo di tutti i Scampi (ShariVari), Tuesday, 16 February 2021 19:15 (three years ago) link
It is, a couple of things I'll follow -up on. Thanks
― xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 16 February 2021 23:57 (three years ago) link