In these five novellas, Bednár is preoccupied with the insensitive, even inhuman, rootless, and amoral modernity that the war and the Communist Party import into traditional Slovak life. The destruction of the traditional Slovak countryside during the twentieth century through modernization and urbanization, and with it a particular approach to life, forms his central theme. Alfonz Bednár’s writing was one of the first free of nationalist and communist propaganda, rejecting earlier ideologization of life by both the fascist right and the Stalinist left, and finding more empathetic ways to explore the complexity of human experience. His novellas defy traditional heroic depictions and portray the individual, his relationships, and morality as the subject of history rather than of a utopian, collectivist ideology. Bednár’s style and devotion to plot and dynamic narration make The Hours and the Minutes a genuinely gripping read. The publication includes an afterword by Rajendra Chitnis.
