Literary fiction  |  English sample translation available

Markéta Baňková is a cosmopolitan, cultivated author who is also an audiovisual artist and graduate of graphic design and new media from the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. Straka v říši entropie (The Magpie in the Realm of Entropy), her debut collection of fables, won a Magnesia Litera award, was nominated for the Josef Škvorecký Award and has been translated into Polish. In Triviality, Baňková again combines prose with scientific themes which shape and illustrate the story. This time her topic is biology. Hidden under the mask of black humour is an examination of human identity, a puzzle which is especially pertinent with new discoveries in genetics and the associated question of free will. Are we slaves to our genetic makeup? Are our thoughts influenced by parasites? Or does the society we grow up in have the greatest influence? The main character, Tomáš, a genetics student raised by adoptive parents, is searching for his own roots. Science forms his worldview, but this lens can distort his personal, especially romantic, relationships…

Praise

“Markéta Baňková has written a very readable book, in which instead of the smell of the city after rainfall, we can smell the soil bacteria washed up by rainwater and floating all around us.”

— Štěpán Kučera, Právo

“[…] as in her debut novel, [Baňková] successfully arouses lay readers’ interest in a complex field. Triviality will not turn anyone into an expert on genetics but it can open the door to further learning.”

— Veronika Havlová, Respekt