The latest addition to my website is Eva Švankmajerová‘s Jeskyně Baradla (Baradla Cave). This novel was first published in samizdat in 1981 and was only published in book form in 1995, after the fall of communism. It is a surrealist novel by a woman known more as poet and artist than novelist but it works very well as a surrealist novel. It is set primarily in and around the Baradla Cave in present-day Hungary and Slovakia and takes a strongly surrealistic approach to issues such as the cave and its structure, the role of women, modern-day consumer society, tourism and psychological issues. As translator, Gwendolyn Albert, comments it’s worth just letting it babble on but behind the babble there is humour, critique and an original view of contemporary life which makes it well worthwhile. From sex and love to mental health and speleology, from parenting to just struggling with life, Švankmajerová looks at the world in a different and fascinating way.
Sorry for the offtopic, I was wondering if you’ve read any Romain Gary books and what is your opinion of him.
No, sorry, I have somehow not got round to him