Jiří Kratochvil

Good Night, Sweet Dreams

Trans. Christa Rothmeier
Gute Nacht, süße Träume Gute Nacht, süße Träume
Gute Nacht, süße Träume
Braumüller, 2015, 400 pp
Language: German
Foreign rights:
Dana Blatná Literary Agency
http://www.dbagency.cz
blatna@dbagency.cz
Prose

The book takes place in Brno on a single day toward the end of the War. It’s April 30, 1945. The city centre has been liberated, but the fights are still going on nearby, even though the majority of the Wehrmacht and SS units are on the retreat. Concentration camp survivors are coming home, but find their homes and houses already occupied. There is no electricity, gas, the waterworks are damaged, burials take place in gardens and public parks. It’s the so-called zero time, chaos and uncertainty regarding tomorrow reign supreme. Kratochvil’s novel, Dobrou noc, sladké sny (Goodnight, Sweet Dreams), combines rich imagination with factuality, turning tragedy into grotesque and vice versa.

More information about the German edition here.

Information about the original Czech edition

Dobrou noc, sladké sny

Other selected published translations (1)

Buenas noches, dulces sueños Spanish

Gute Nacht, süße Träume
Braumüller, 2015, 400 pp
Language: German
Foreign rights:
Dana Blatná Literary Agency
http://www.dbagency.cz
blatna@dbagency.cz