The Miracle Game [Paperback]

Josef Skvorecky (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1992

Smiricky, from "The Engineer of Human Souls", is a witness to an event, which the Catholic townspeople insist is a miracle, but the Communist Party denounces as a fraud. A priest dies under interrogation. Twenty years later the case is reopened and Danny is drawn into the investigations.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This big, lush political novel spans 20 years of recent Czech history, culminating in the Prague Spring and the Russian invasion of 1968. Shortly after the war, Danny Smiricky, the cynical hero of Skvorecky's novel The Engineer of Human Souls , is present--although dozing--in a rural Bohemian church when a statue of St. Joseph moves on its pedestal, seemingly of its own volition. The Catholic clergy call it a miracle, but the Communist secret police conduct their own investigation. Alleging that the event was a fraud, they torture and murder the attending priest. In the more liberal political climate of the late '60s, Smiricky sets out to help a crusading journalist solve the mystery; the novel is loosely structured as a detective story, complete with clues and false trails. But Smiricky's real role is devil's advocate, standing aside from the unfolding drama of modern history--he refers to himself as a "Good Soldier Svejk"--in order to comment on it. As a writer of well-received operettas, Smiricky has special access to the intellectuals involved in the Prague Spring uprising, and he takes amusing, nasty jibes at the real participants. Czech President Havel becomes "the world-famous playwright Hejl" who is already organizing for his future political party; the writer Bohumil Hrabal, also portrayed in an unflattering light, has been transformed into the "gifted non-party novelist Nabal"; etc. Skvorecky's ambitious attempt to capture the spirit and feel of this turbulent era makes for fascinating reading.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Czech --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 436 pages
• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc (June 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393308499
• ISBN-13: 978-0393308495
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #962,681 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Humourous tale of Czech horrors, September 3, 2000

By 

Elizabeth Hendry (New Jersey USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Miracle Game (Paperback)

Skvorecky has done an interesting thing here, he has intertwined a serious story of the horrors of living in Czecheslovakia with a bawdy romp about a young oversexed man who teaches in a all girls high school. We follow Danny as he grows into an oversexed middle aged man. The story is funny and well-written for the most part. My only complaints are he jumps around in time a little too much and the translation got a little borderline obscene. All in all I enjoyed reading it and think anyone with an interest is Czech history will as well

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The essential modern Czech novel., April 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Miracle Game (Paperback)

This is the one. This novel better than any other explains the imprint left on the Czech consciousness by the Soviet invasion of August 1968, described so vividly by Skvorecky.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant account of the end of the Prague Spring, October 12, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: The Miracle Game (Paperback)

The Soviet invasion of August 1968 that ended the reformist Prague Spring is the key historical moment of post-1948 Czechoslovakia.
Skvorecky, through his oft-used alter ego Danny Smiricky, eloquently describes the collapse of the idealism that fuelled the reforms.
He interweaves an apparent miracle (a statue in a church moves on it own) to question the wisdom of having faith in anything beyond yourself.
Of all of Skvorecky's writings, and I have read several, this novel serves as the best introduction to modern Czech literature.
Skvorecky is lighter than Klima and Kundera, but this is not to say he shies away from the horror of communism.
His description of the invasion of Prague -- tart and sarcastic -- jolts the reader into an understanding of the deep scars on the Czech psyche.
Of course, it was the Soviet invasion that sent Skvorecky to the west, and he has written that he now feels more Canadian than Czech.
But in The Miracle Game, he reveals the depths of his affection for his country and its tortured soul.