Warsaw Tales

by Helen Constantine (Editor), Antonia Lloyd-Jones (Translator)

Overview

Warsaw Tales is an anthology of short stories and non-fiction set in the Polish capital. Beginning in 1911 with Boleslaw Prus' Apparitions, the collected stories provide a chronological account of the city's tumultuous and dramatic history. Each story captures a phase of Warsaw's past, through the interwar period as a Polish republic, the Second World War and the city's Nazi occupation, the post-war city in ruins and its rebuilding under the communist regime, and its new status as the capital of an independent Poland in 1989. With each story set in a specific part of the city, the collection becomes a guidebook to Warsaw's temporal, spatial, and psychological geography. This collection features a wide variety of authors including Boleslaw Prus, Maria Kuncewiczowa, Jaroslaw Iwaszkiewicz, Ludwik Hering, Zofia Petersowa, Marek Hlasko, Kazimierz Orlos, Hanna Krall, Antoni Libera, Zbigniew Mentzel, Olga Tokarczuk, and Krzysztof Varga.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780192668080
Publisher:	OUP Oxford
Publication date:	07/19/2024
Series:	City Tales
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	250
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Antonia Lloyd-Jones graduated from Oxford University in 1983 with a degree in Russian and Ancient Greek, and has been teaching herself Polish ever since. She has translated works by many of Poland's leading contemporary novelists and reportage authors, as well as crime fiction, poetry and children's books. Her translation of Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by 2018 Nobel Prize laureate Olga Tokarczuk was shortlisted for the 2019 Man Booker International Prize. She is a mentor for the Emerging Translators' Mentorship Programme, and former co-chair of the UK Translators Association.

Table of Contents

1. Apparitions, Boleslaw Prus2. Zoo, Maria Kuncewiczowa3. Icarus, Jaroslaw Iwaszkiewicz4. Traces, Ludwik Hering5. The Funeral, Zofia Petersowa6. First Step in the Clouds, Marek Hlasko7. The Palace of Culture, Kazimierz Orlos8. The Presence, Hanna Krall9. The View from Above and Below, Antoni Libera10. The Warsaw Map, Zbigniew Mentzel11. Che Guevara, Olga Tokarczuk12. Return of the Evil One, Krzysztof Varga

Editorial Reviews

"This is a worthwhile effort to preserve strong examples of Polish writing in translation to make it accessible to the international market. The stories are logically structured, and carry a point, and present details to describe the scenes and tensions from this foreign perspective. Academic libraries should purchase this book,...These stories are so well written, it is difficult to indeed separate true autobiographies from the fictions." — Pennsylvania Literary Journal

"A fascinating and engaging collection, which will introduce anglophone readers to some important Polish authors, and immerse them in the rich history of the city." — Rob Spence, Shiny New Books

"Focusing on distinct neighbourhoods, each story paints a vivid picture of Warsaw's tumultuous interwar period as a republic, through rebuilding under communism to the country's independence in 1989... Warsaw Tales is a guide to the capital, past and present." — New Statesman

"the perfect book to read in concert with a visit [to Warsaw]." — Richard Lofthouse, QUAD

"Compelling, profoundly moving, and filled with a fascinating range of authors and stories, I found it thoroughly absorbing... This is a book full of riches and I highly recommend it." — Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings

"Focusing on distinct neighbourhoods, each story paints a vivid picture of Warsaw's tumultuous interwar period as a republic, through rebuilding under communism to the country's independence in 1989... Warsaw Tales is a guide to the capital, past and present." — New Statesman

"the perfect book to read in concert with a visit [to Warsaw]." — Richard Lofthouse, QUAD

"Compelling, profoundly moving, and filled with a fascinating range of authors and stories, I found it thoroughly absorbing... This is a book full of riches and I highly recommend it." — Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings

"As a whole the collection contributes to a greater understanding of how the history of Warsaw manifests in memory, post-memory and literature, and how it continues to inspire artists to this day." — Marcel Krueger, Dublin Review of Books

"This is the latest volume in a series of captivating books, each of which contains essays and works of short fiction that capture the essence of a European city." — Foreign Affairs

"The tales are presented chronologically-with Lloyd-Jones giving us a measure of her mastery of the Polish language, from "classical" prose to the newest usage and colloquialisms... well-rounded and interesting choices…" — Alice-Catherine Carls, World Literature Today

From the Publisher