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Celebrating the UK release of his sweeping new “picaresque romp of black humour and fantasy” (TLS), Czech writer Jáchym Topol and translator Alex Zucker read from and discuss an award-winning novel A Sensitive Person with critic and scholar Dr. Kathryn Murphy, followed by an audience Q+A and a book signing.
A Sensitive Person (Yale University Press 2023, published in Czech as Citlivý člověk in 2017) is a brutally funny, carnivalesque novel about love, death, and survival. Tab, an itinerant Czech actor, travels Europe on the theatre circuit with his partner, Soňa, and their two young sons, attending festivals and performing plays. Confronted with growing resentment toward foreigners, Tab decides to return home to the banks of the Sázava River, southeast of Prague. As soon as they arrive, Tab finds himself falsely accused of a terrible crime and forced to go on the run with his sons. Over the course of their journey, dodging authorities by car, foot, and raft, they encounter a motley cast of allies and enemies. The effects of Tab’s sudden reappearance and just-as-sudden disappearance ripple through the community, catalysing a chaotic chain of events that reaches a final, raucous crescendo.
Admission £5 see booking link below
Jáchym Topol (b. 1962), poet, lyricist, journalist, and novelist, is the leading figure in Czech postmodern fiction since the Velvet Revolution in 1989. His debut novel, City Sister Silver, was featured in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, and was the only work from after 1989 to be named among the best 100 Czech Books of the 20th century. He currently works as programme director at the Václav Havel Library, in Prague, featuring politically engaged authors and artists (Czech and non-Czech alike). Topol’s other works available in English are A Trip to the Train Station, City Sister Silver, Angel Station, Nightwork, Gargling With Tar, and The Devil’s Workshop. His work has been translated into over 25 languages. jachymtopol.cz
Alex Zucker has translated novels by Jáchym Topol, Bianca Bellová, Petra Hůlová, J. R. Pick, Magdaléna Platzová, Tomáš Zmeškal, Josef Jedlička, Heda Margolius Kovály, Patrik Ouředník, and Miloslava Holubová. alexjzucker.com
Kathryn Murphy studied Czech and English literature at the University of Glasgow, and is now Fellow in English at Oriel College, University of Oxford, where she teaches and writes about Renaissance literature and the literary essay. She is also reviews Czech literature for the TLS.
Part of the season celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Czech Centre London that highlights the most successful past projects.
The Czech Centre London launched Jáchym Topol’s seminal work City Sister Silver in Alex Zucker ‘s translation on a literary tour that took place between 30 Apr and 2 May 2001 in London, Glasgow and Oxford.
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