Peter Pišťanek, Rivers of Babylon

Peter Darovec (Comenius University)

Ed. by Charles Sabatos, Yeditepe University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.8.1: Czech and Slovak Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Charles Sabatos (Yeditepe University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1991

Places

Slovakia (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

Peter Pišťanek’s 1991 literary debut, Rivers of Babylon (the original Slovak title is in English) is widely considered the most influential Slovak novel of the post-Communist period. It is a revolutionary novel in a number of ways: first, in its original poetics, unheard-of in Slovak literature; secondly, the fact that it was written at the time of the 1989 Velvet Revolution; and, finally, that it thematised that period of radical social change almost before it happened. By the standards of Slovak fiction, it had relative success in reaching English readers: Peter Petro’s English translation was praised by the Times Literary Supplement, the Guardian, the Independent and the …

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2582 words

Citation: Darovec, Peter. "Rivers of Babylon". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 24 November 2020 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=39458, accessed 23 November 2024.]

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