Synopses & Reviews
In this delightful collection of essays--by turns wry and reflective, wistful and witty--contemporary Polish writer Andrzej Stasiuk turns his attention to the villages and small towns of Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Albania, and of course his native Poland. Stasiuk travels to places no tourist would think of visiting, and in his characteristically lyrical prose, lays out his own unique and challenging perspective on the fascinating, unknown heart of Central Europe. He reminds us of the area's extraordinarily rich cultural and ethnic makeup, explores its literature, and shows how its history is inscribed permanently in its landscapes. Above all, he describes with fascination how past, present, and future co-exist and intertwine along the highways and back roads of the region.
Review
"Stasiuk is . . . an accomplished stylist with an eye for the telling detail that brings characters and situations to life. . . . I caught a flavor of Hamsun, Sartre, Genet and Kafka in Stasiuk's scalpel-like but evocative writing." Irvine Welsh
Review
Readers find this author’s rough-and-ready tales of the Wild East so convincing that in the German-speaking countries he is now the best-known among contemporary Polish writers.Starred Review. Stasiuk’s style of travel writing takes readers, in beautifully descriptive prose, to far and often remote corners of Eastern Europe. He is an alluring writer; the opening line of ‘Highway,’ the first essay in the collection—‘Best of all is night in a foreign country’—is a siren song guaranteeing the book will not be put down until the last page has been read.[T]he book was so good it filled me with a strong desire to spend more time in the car parks of obscure provincial Polish towns. But it also filled me with an unexpected, new yearning. --Daniel Kalder
Review
"Stasiuk writes eloquently and with penetrating insight about the effect of the collapse of communism on the people of Central and Eastern Europe, particularly the young..." Daniel Kalder The Guardian Books Blog
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"[A] delicate, deeply-shadowed book of travels through the culturally blurred hinterlands of the former Eastern Bloc." Carmelo Militano PopMatters
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He gives us a true dispatch from Eastern Europe with the heart of a bohemian. --Monica Carter
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[H]e writes a slow, meditative prose that allows him to perceive the ancient rhythms under this constant change. --Daniel Trilling
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Fado is a must read for all. --Agnieszka Macoch
Review
"Readers find this author's rough-and-ready tales of the Wild East so convincing that in the German-speaking countries he is now the best-known among contemporary Polish writers." The New York Times
Review
"Starred Review. Stasiuk's style of travel writing takes readers, in beautifully descriptive prose, to far and often remote corners of Eastern Europe. He is an alluring writer; the opening line of 'Highway,' the first essay in the collection--'Best of all is night in a foreign country'--is a siren song guaranteeing the book will not be put down until the last page has been read." Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Review
"[T]he book was so good it filled me with a strong desire to spend more time in the car parks of obscure provincial Polish towns. But it also filled me with an unexpected, new yearning." Booklist
Synopsis
Inspired by Jack Kerouac's On the Road, Andrzej Stasiuk, Poland's most accomplished living prose writer, takes readers into the "forgotten Europe."
About the Author
Andrzej Stasiuk has received numerous awards for his work, including the Nike, Poland's most prestigious literary prize, for his 2004 collection of essays Traveling to Babadag. His 1999 novel Nine was recently published in English to great critical acclaim. Stasiuk also runs a publishing house, specializing in Central and Eastern European prose.Bill Johnston is the leading translator of Polish literature in the United States. His translation of Tadeusz Różewicz's new poems won the 2008 Found in Translation Award and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Poetry Award.