Topol Jáchym: Osjetljiv čovjek

Jáchym Topol: A Sensitive Man

Middle-aged actor Moor travels with his wife Sonja and two sons, performing his plays at various theater festivals across Europe. After experiencing open intolerance towards foreigners at one such festival in England, Moor decides to return to the Czech Republic with his family after a decade of travel. But not everything goes according to plan. Due to a series of unforeseen circumstances, Moor's family found themselves in the middle of the chaos of the Ukrainian-Russian conflict, and eventually managed to settle down in their hometown on the banks of the Sázava River, southeast of Prague.

But there Moor faces new difficulties after being accused of murdering his father-in-law. On the run and hiding from the police with his two sons, Moor then meets a whole series of colorful characters from the social fringes. From moneylenders and resellers of stolen cars to drunkards, homeless people and prostitutes. And their destinies will cross in an unexpected and surprising way in the finale, which includes a wedding, a brothel, the police, and even a Russian tank.

The playful and picturesque novel by the award-winning Czech writer Jáchym Topol is full of grotesque and darkly humorous episodes. They are imbued with lively and witty dialogues of characters from the fringes of society who are searching for the meaning of existence. But also with his identity.

This long-awaited novel by "the youngest classic of Czech literature" reflects the spiritual state of contemporary European society. In addition to universal themes such as love, death and faith, he deals with current political ones such as the refugee crisis, the Russian threat and the rise of nationalist populism.

Jáchym Topol (1962, Prague) is a Czech writer, poet, musician and journalist. He is a signatory of Charter 77, an initiative to respect human and civil rights in former Czechoslovakia. As a representative of the Czech underground, he published in samizdat until 1989.

He published two books of poetry I love you to madness (Miluju tě k zbláznění, 1991) and On Tuesday, there's war (V úterý bude válka, 1992). After poetry, he turns to prose, with the novella Trip to the Station Hall (Výlet k nádražní hale, 1994). Then with the collection of stories Golden Head (Zlatá hlava, 2005) and the novels Sestra (Sestra, 1994), Angel (Anděl, 1995), Night Job (Noční práce, 2001) and Gljati taran (Kloktat dehet, 2005). sovětských heroes). His novel Cold land (Chladnou zemí, 2009) has been translated into numerous languages, and the English translation of the novel won the PEN award for translated literature.

For his last novel, The Sensitive Man (Citlivý články, 2017), Topol was awarded the most important Czech cultural award, the State Prize for Literature.