Rivers of Babylon
translated by Peter Petro
2007
259 pages, hardcover
ISBN 978-0-9535878-4-1
ASIN B004NSVQE4 (ebook)
from the publisher:
Peter Pišťanek's reputation is assured by Rivers of Babylon and by its hero, the most mesmerizing character of Slovak literature, Rácz, an idiot of genius, a psychopathic gangster. Rácz and his novel tell the story of a Central Europe, where criminals, intellectuals and ex-secret policemen have infiltrated a new ‘democracy.’ Slovak readers acknowledge Peter Pišťanek as their most flamboyant and fearless writer, stripping the nation of its myths and false self-esteem. The novel is an uproarious and unsparing satire on both socialism and capitalism in the best Rabelaisian tradition, and in his monstrous anti-hero Rácz, Pišťanek has created a prescient portrait of Slovakia’s future prime minister Mečiar and other many other post-communist strongmen.
Read an excerpt from Rivers of Babylon
More About This Title in the Press
- Review by Sarah Hinlicky Wilson in Slovak Novels in English, November 2018
- “Slovakia: the other side” by Ann Morgan on A Year of Reading the World, September 2012
- “Gangster’s paradise on the forest floor” by Tibor Fischer in The Telegraph, March 2008
- “The man who runs the heating steals the show” by Julian Evans in The Independent, January 2008
- “Hijinks at the Hotel Ambassador” by John de Falbe in Literary Review, December 2007