The writer’s book recently translated into English by Madeline G. Levine and released by the Northwestern University Press is presented at America’s largest annual international book fair
God's Horse and The Atheists' School comprises two pieces of the author’s autobiographical prose, dating from 1996 and 1999 respectively. Dichter also participates in a reading session and talk hosted by the Polish Consulate in New York.
Another significant title promoted at the fair is Wiesław Myśliwski’s Stone upon Stone, translated by Bill Johnston and recently honoured with the Best Translated Book Award. Joanna Trzeciak’s selection of poems by Tadeusz Różewicz, entitled Sobbing Superpower, a nominee for the Griffin Poetry Prize is also presented at BookExpo.
This year’s edition of the BEA attracts over 20 thousand participants from 60 different countries, with the participation of 600 authors. A total of 1100 booths is visited by nearly 1500 librarians and a similiar number of guests from the press. Thanks to the initiative of the Polish Cultural Institute in New York, this year marks the first official presence of Polish literature at the event.
Born in 1935 in the now-Ukrainian town of Boryslav, Wilhelm Dichter has been living in the US since 1968, settling near the city of Boston. He survived the nazi occupation in Poland in hiding. As a grown-up man, he decided to settle in Warsaw, which he left only following the anti-semitic repressions of 1968. He began writing his autobiographical novels after the age of 60, although he previously published popular science works. Dichter was educated as an engineer, and in America, he worked as a ballistics expert and then as a specialist in graphic software. His first book, God’s Horse, was nominated for the prestigious Nike Literary Award in 1997. The following Atheists’ School was among the finalists of the prize in 2000. The two novels were translated into German, French, Dutch, Czech, as well as other languages. Dichter’s third book, Lekcja angielskiego (An English Lesson) was released in Poland in 2010.
God’s Horse is based on the author’s experiences of the war, the nazi occupation and the beginnings of a new political system in a post-war Poland, all seen through the eyes of a child. The action of Atheists’ School takes place in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The protagonist is now a teenager, and he is infatuated with the new ideals of communism. He is confronted with two extreme stances of the new system’s enemies and its zealous ethusiasts. His growing fascination is stopped when the voice of love comes into power.
Stanisław Barańczak states in the afterword to the God’s Horse:
It is a novel that is a necessary reading, simply because it can make us realise, that even today, at the dusk of an absurd and morderous century, literature hasn’t lost its capacity for shaking us out of thoughless indifference.
Event details:
• 5th-7th of June, 2012 - Polish booth at BookExpo America
Javits Center - Booth #2451, 11th Ave. between 34th and 39th Street
• 6th of June, 2012 - meetings with Wilhelm Dichter
with the participation of prof. Madeline G. Levine, and Mike Levine, an editor of the Northwestern University Press
• 1 pm - Javits Center: Uptown Stage, 11th Ave. between 34th and 39th Street
• 7 pm - Polish Consulate Headquarters, 233 Madison Ave. (next to 37th Street)
Wilhelm Dichter
God's Horse and The Atheists' School
translated by Madeline G. Levine
published by Northwestern University Press, release date: 29th of February, 2012
152 x 229, 384 pgs + 22 illustrations, paperback
ISBN: 978-0-8101-2793-7
Editor: SRS
Source: polishculture-nyc.com, www.bookexpoamerica.com, www.wilhelmdichter.com