Baradla Cave [Paperback]

Eva Svankmajerova (Author), Jan Svankmajer (Illustrator), Gwendolyn Albert (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2000

Baradla is a living organism, both place (Prague) and person (a woman). With shifting language and voices--pseudoscientific jargon, common vernacular, metaphoric stream-- the author satirically explores maternity and femininity, the mother-state and consumer society. Her sense of the absurd is without limit, taking in all urban existence: durg addiction, murder, sex crimes, corruption and dysfunctional family relationships as scenes of episodic sexual violence alternate with humorous reflections on various ingrained customs and habits.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Eva's Baradla is a work that will live a long life." -- Vratislav Effenberger

"How long must English-language readers wait for someone to translate her?"-- -- Penelope Rosemont, editor of Surrealist Women Austin, U. of Texas Press, 1998

Eva¹s Baradla is a work that will live a long life. -- Vratislav Effenberger

How long must English-language readers wait for someone to translate her. -- Penelope Rosemont, editor of Surrealist Women

[Svankmajerova's] use of surrealism to convey non-life under totalitarianism pre-dates the same technique visible in Pelevin's novel The Clay Machine Gun. -- Blue Ear

About the Author

Eva Svankmajerov‡ is a Czech surrealist, a painter and ceramicist, and a regular contributor to the journal "Analogon." She is also known for film collaborations (The Lesson of Faust, Conspirators of Pleasure) with her husband, Jan Svankmajer.

Gwendolyn Albert is from Oakland. She went to Prague in 1989 on a Fulbright and witnessed the Velvet Revolution firsthand, volunteering as the translator of Civic Forum's daily pronouncements. The co-founder and editor of "JEJUNE: america eats its young," she has been published in "Exquisite Corpse" and "Skanky Possum."

Product Details

• Paperback: 138 pages
• Publisher: Twisted Spoon Press; 1st edition (January 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 8090217176
• ISBN-13: 978-8090217171
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,213,406 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars another viewpoint, April 20, 2009

By 

RAH RAH RAH (SONGBIRD ISLAND) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Baradla Cave (Paperback)

Even those with the necessary "cast of mind," as it has been put previously, will probably not be terribly impressed by this book. Imagine the glory of Jan Svankmajer in a non-visual context, without the precision of timing or attention to detail, imagine this as a loose discourse around the vagaries of a cave that is also a woman, though usually wambling off into some distant observation or redundancy. This in itself is marvelous, and I imagine in the Czech there is a more poetic feel, but in English the language can be tiring, and I remember half-dozing off while reading this. I don't think I finished this book, but can't recall. But still, if you have read the likes of Klima and Hrabal and enjoy films like "Daisies" or "Pearls of the Deep" this book is worth your time, simply for its unique slant of surrealism. Since only a portion of the book seems necessary, you may be advised to just delve in at will, reading from a random page. Since works of surrealism are naturally beyond analysis or judgment, because they exist in a realm of sheer possibility, I have chosen to rate this book 5 stars simply for being the authentic product of a human soul.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Shifting, surreal view from Czech Communism, January 6, 2009

By 

wiredweird "wiredweird" (Earth, or somewhere nearby) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Baradla Cave (Paperback)

Eva Švankmajerová, wife of surrealist animator Jan Švankmajer, created this complex, enigmatic book under the Communist regime of the 1980s. It carries much of that oppressive time within it, including the poverty, corruption, and quiet desperation of everyday living. Still, the mood changes mercurially, from an ennui so deep that neither victim nor rapist seem to care much about what they're doing, to an Oedipal passion for Baradla.

It takes a certain cast of mind to follow the kaleidoscopic shifts of view and comment. Some time, the narration seems focused to the point of being claustrophobic. Other times every sentence within a paragraph leaps to a new topic, like a movie where every frame portrays a different scene. I regret that I lack that necessary cast of mind. I'm sure others will read this book and extract a different experience from it than I did - I found it so fragmented that I came away with nearly nothing. I look forward to seeing those readers' reviews.

-- wiredweird