A Long Night's Stories - Softcover

Dobiáš, Rudolf

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1912945401 ISBN 13: 9781912945405

Publisher: Mount Orleans Press, 2023

Synopsis

This small book is a valuable introduction for the English reader to the writings of Rudolf Dobiáš, born in Czechoslovakia in 1934 and spending seven years of his youth in forced labour imprisonment. Dobiáš was released in 1960, but as an ex-convict struggled to find any but the most basic work. However when he turned 40 in 1975 opportunities as a writer came his way, though it was not until the Velvet Revolution in 1989 that he was able to realise his true voice as a witness to his personal experience of the brutality of totalitarian suppression. This book comprises short stories―some very short, others novellas―and a small selection of poetry. What may be lacking in extent is more than made up for in intensity, as the reader is exposed to the experience of the suffering and vulnerability of the individual in a society where neither honesty nor friendship have any reliable value. As Michael Žantovskư writes in his Foreword, “Dobiáš delves all the way to the bottom of the pain and the desperation experienced by human beings subjected to cruel injustice and inhuman conditions. There is no earthly redemption in his stories, no absolution for the torturers. The transcendence of the almost total darkness present in his works is made possible only through his deeply held faith in the world to come.”

About this title

About the Author

Rudolf Dobiáš was born on the 29th September 1934 in Dobra, near Trenčín, Slovakia, into a peasant family. In 1954 he was sentenced to 18 years in prison for treason. The main reason for his arrest was membership of an illegal scouting organisation, whose activity was the production and distribution of anti-communist leaflets. Once the sentence had been passed, he was transported to the Jachymov district, where he worked as a miner in the Jachymov uranium mines until 1960. After the fall of communism, he became a journalist―he was editor of Slovenskư denník. Until 2013 he edited the journal of the Slovak Confederation of Political Prisoners Naše Svedectvo (Our Testimony). He has compiled four books of testimonies to the brutality of the communist regime Triedni nepriatelia (Class Enemies) and an Anthology of Poetry Written in Prison, Básnici za mrežami (Poets Behind Bars).

Edition details

• Publisher: Mount Orleans Press
• Publication date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1912945401
• ISBN 13: 9781912945405
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 176
• Editor: Text Translation: Heather Trebatická, Poetry Translation: John Minahene