Customer Reviews

Baradla Cave

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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