About the Author

Ludvík Vaculík is the author of a number of number of novels and essay collections. One of the leading literary figures during the Prague Spring of 1968, his manifesto The Two Thousand Words led to his banishment from the Communist Party, the censorship of his writing, and decades of persecution.

Káca Polácková has translated numerous prominent Czech writer in addition to Ludvík Vaculík, including Josef Škvorecky and Bohumil Hrabal.

Reviews

"The extraordinary adventures of a petty bank clerk, of his guinea pigs, his family, and his weird superiors are all shrouded in an eerie conviviality which chills the reader."—Antonin J. Liehm