pesahson
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Mariusz Szczygieł is a Polish journalist. He works for Gazeta Wyborcza. In his thirties he started to concentrate his writing on the Czech Republic. What triggered his interest was his interview with Helena Vondráčková, who told him about another Czech singer, Marta Kubišová, banned from performing by the Communist regime. He learned Czech to make the interview with Marta and was hooked for good.
So far he published two books concentrating on the Czech Republic: Zróbmy sobie raj (2010) and Gottland (2006). They are both similar in style. Szczygieł finds some fascinating people (not necessarily major figures) takes interviews if it’s possible and turns it into great reportage.
In Gottland he writes about the Bata family; Stalin’s monument that used to be in Prague; Jaroslava Moserova, the doctor that took care of Jan Palach who commited suicide by self-immolation as a political protest in 1969; Lida Baarova, an actress and Goebbels’ mistress and many more.
It has been translated into a couple of languages (none of which is English):
- German http://www.suhrkamp.de/buecher/gottland-mariusz_szczygiel_41966.html
- Czech http://www.dokoran.cz/index.php?Gottland&p=book.php&id=335
- French http://www.actes-sud.fr/catalogue/litterature-etrangere/gottland
- Italian http://home.edizioninottetempo.it/catalogo/Gottland/
- Hungarian (Europa)
- Ukrainian (Grani T)
New translations are about to come out:
- Russian (NLO)
- Bulgarian (Paradox)
- Spanish (Acantilado)
- Slovene (Založba Sanje)
So far he published two books concentrating on the Czech Republic: Zróbmy sobie raj (2010) and Gottland (2006). They are both similar in style. Szczygieł finds some fascinating people (not necessarily major figures) takes interviews if it’s possible and turns it into great reportage.
In Gottland he writes about the Bata family; Stalin’s monument that used to be in Prague; Jaroslava Moserova, the doctor that took care of Jan Palach who commited suicide by self-immolation as a political protest in 1969; Lida Baarova, an actress and Goebbels’ mistress and many more.
It has been translated into a couple of languages (none of which is English):
- German http://www.suhrkamp.de/buecher/gottland-mariusz_szczygiel_41966.html
- Czech http://www.dokoran.cz/index.php?Gottland&p=book.php&id=335
- French http://www.actes-sud.fr/catalogue/litterature-etrangere/gottland
- Italian http://home.edizioninottetempo.it/catalogo/Gottland/
- Hungarian (Europa)
- Ukrainian (Grani T)
New translations are about to come out:
- Russian (NLO)
- Bulgarian (Paradox)
- Spanish (Acantilado)
- Slovene (Založba Sanje)