Jiří Kratochvil

The Bitter Maliciousness of Living

Trans. Kathrin Janka
Die niederträchtige Boshaftigkeit des Seins
Die niederträchtige Boshaftigkeit des Seins
Braumüller, 2019, 240 pp
Language: German
Genre: Literary fiction
ISBN: 9783992002344
Foreign rights
Dana Blatná Literary Agency
W: http://www.dbagency.cz
E: blatna@dbagency.cz

Whoever likes the fiction of Jiří Kratochvil will gladly accept that a hero and narrator of this novel is a rabbit that can talk, educate itself, philosophize about its own and human situations, and opine that it is unwise to meddle with them, because nothing good can come of it.

Above and beyond the tale of the rabbit, there are incredible surprises in store, for this author’s imagination is unrivalled. Characters and events enter the story in the guise of our surrounding reality – a possible cause of confusion which, according to Kratochvil, is a result of ‘life stealing from literature’; it is with this in mind that he dreams up and builds his fictions. As the intentionally Kundera-esque title suggests, however, the author lives in the real world and is aware of its dark uncertainties. (Milan Uhde)

Information about the original Czech edition

Jízlivá potměšilost žití

Language: German
Title: Die niederträchtige Boshaftigkeit des Seins
Place: Wien
Publisher: Braumüller
Year: 2019
Pages: 240
Genre: Literary fiction
Foreign rights
Dana Blatná Literary Agency