New York Times Reviews Mariusz Szczygieł's Gottland
Mariusz Szczygieł’s acclaimed Gottland – a collection of reportages about the Communist times Czechs had to endure – has received a vivacious review from the New York Times’ Larry Rohter.
Szczygieł might have wondered “if anyone in the West would be interested in what a Pole has to say about the Czechs”, however as Larry Rohter puts it, Gottland is an indelible account of the ravages of 20th-century totalitarianism and the way it continues to pollute human thought and behaviour in the 21st century.
The book not only tells stories of individuals living in the reality of the time, filtered through a Kafkaesque lens of absurdity – it shows how the historical consequences of the past are still alive and well.
The book’s title Gottland refers to Karel Gott, the Golden Voice of Prague, who played along with the Communists and who, following the example of Presley’s Graceland, opened the Gottland Museum, of which Szczygieł says that, getting inside Gottland is like obtaining a seal of approval: The past is O.K.
Szczygieł’s efforts have definitely paid off – it shows that this period in history is not separate – and that those who did not experience a totalitarian reality can still relate to it, as it not only reveals many quirky incidents but also uncovers some general mechanisms of the real world.
You can read the full review on The New York Times here.
By: Kasia Dolato, 25.06.2014
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