english translation of andrzej stasiuk's "tales of galicia"

[w martin]

Dear All,
This book may be of interest to anyone working with things Polish or
Central European. Cheers,

Bill Martin
PhD Candidate, Comparative Literature
University of Chicago
Chicago, IL 60637


Description from the Twisted Spoon Press website (http://www.twistedspoon.com):

Tales of Galicia
by Andrzej Stasiuk

translated from the Polish by
Margarita Nafpaktitis

Seemingly a set of prose ballads about the southeastern tip of Poland, Tales
of Galicia brilliantly blurs the line between the short-story genre and the
novel, while giving a vivid, poetic portrait of an imaginary village that was
once part of a vibrant collective farm system. It is a part of Poland that —
once inhabited by Poles, Ukrainians, and Jews — suddenly became homogenous
after the war. Those who came to live in this region formed their own peculiar
culture that lacked any sort of historical connection to what had preceded it.
In the early 1990s state farm subsidies were abolished as Poland moved to
rapidly implement political and economic reform. The village became depressed,
its inhabitants largely unemployed and spending most of their time drinking in
the pub. But rather than dark, naturalistic dirge, Stasiuk exhibits a
Hrabalian flare for language and description that turns the banality and
drudgery of these lives into poetry, with a final redemption scene that is at
once comical, moving, and starkly beautiful.

Exploring a kind of metaphysics of the fissure in existence, in Tales of
Galicia Stasiuk posits little difference between the living and the dead,
between death and sleep, between dream and reality, between what is real and
what is on TV, between one culture and another, indeed, between civilization
and nature and between instinct and morality. Considered one of Poland's
leading contemporary writers, this is perhaps Stasiuk's most intriguing book.

Margarita Nafpaktitis is currently a doctoral candidate in Slavic Languages
and Literatures at the University of Michigan. Her translations of Polish
writers Stefan Chwin, Ewa Lipska, and Andrzej Stasiuk have appeared in a
number of journals.

Review extracts:

Andrzej Stasiuk's Tales of Galicia is written in a clear, clean, uncomplicated
style. To read it is not time wasted. To buy it is not money wasted. To have
published it is a damn good idea. — Emil Hakl, Tvar

Andrzej Stasiuk's work is so original that nothing else needs to be said about
it. — Lidove noviny


--

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                  http://home.attbi.com/~lists/seelangs/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------