بدبختی

Andrzej Tichý paints a delirious portrait of an excluded community of nomads, full of potent fuel and dancing to a different beat. Translated by Nichola Smalley.Waiting by the canal in Malmö, a young cellist meets a disorientated junkie. The encounter sends him into a turmoil of memories, voices and associations. As the cellist oscillates between present and past, he is paralysed by doubt and confusion and he begins to question his own place in society. From sprawling housing projects to underground clubs and squat parties, Wretchedness is a blistering trip through the underbelly of Europe’s cities. Powered by a furious, unpredictable beat, this is a paean to brotherhood, to those who didn’t make it however hard they fought, and a visceral indictment of the poverty that took them."The narrative flows fast, urging the reader to keep up; yet most readers will never be able to fully understand the characters’ plight. For them, the mantra “die young” acquires another meaning: there is no choice, “either because you stay who you are ... or because you’ll become a different person”. The book ends abruptly, as an avant-garde piece of music might, but the vibrations continue to fill the air." - Anna Aslanyan, The GuardianAndrzej Tichy was born in Prague to a Polish mother and a Czech father. He has lived in Sweden since 1981. Waiting by the canal in Malmö, a young cellist meets a disorientated junkie. The encounter sends him into a turmoil of memories, voices and associations. As the cellist oscillates between present and past, he is paralysed by doubt and confusion and he begins to question his own place in society. From sprawling social housing estates, via basement clubs and squat parties, and culminating in a dramatic role reversal, Wretchedness is a delirious trip through Europe's underbelly. With a rhythmic, mesmerising flow, Tichy's novel explores the possibility of social mobility and the ambivalent desire to escape your origins, asking how to love your neighbour when that neighbour is an addict, a criminal, wretched. Contemporary fiction;literary fiction;Swedish;Sweden;Malmö;translation;immigration;addiction;music;urban;race;Scandinavia;Kendrick Lamar;Knausgaard;drugs;August prize;Mogwai;Simone Weil;Eländet;James Joyce;Krasznahorkai;Thomas Bernhard;Mircea Cartarescu;masculinity;racism;Lina Wolff;Patty Yumi Cottrell;Anthony Anaxagorou;Will Ashon;Jen Calleja;Derek Owusu Waiting By The Canal, A Young Cellist Meets A Junkie, High And Drifting. He Gives Him Twenty Krona And They Exchange A Few Words; The Encounter Is Unremarkable. Yet For The Cellist - Who Grew Up A Poor Immigrant In The Outskirts Of Malmö, And Who Lost Friends And Family To Drug Abuse, Crime And Death - A Barrier In His Mind Has Collapsed, And He Leaves The Canal Chased By A Creeping Floodtide Of Memories, All Of Which Threaten To Drag Him Back To Where He Came From. Tearing Through Sprawling Social Housing Estates, Basement Clubs And Squat Parties,wretchedness Is A Tumultuous And Raging Journey Into The Underbelly Of Europe. With A Rhythmic, Mesmerising Flow, Tichý Probes The Bittersweet Pleasures Of Escaping One's Origins, And Of Loving One's Neighbour Without Question - Even When That Neighbor Is An Addict, A Criminal, Wretched.

Waiting by the canal in Malmö, a young cellist meets a disorientated junkie. The encounter sends him into a turmoil of memories, voices and associations. As the cellist oscillates between present and past, he is paralysed by doubt and confusion and he begins to question his own place in society.

From sprawling social housing estates, via basement clubs and squat parties, and culminating in a dramatic role reversal, Wretchedness is a delirious trip through Europe’s underbelly. With a rhythmic, mesmerising flow, Tichy’s novel explores the possibility of social mobility and the ambivalent desire to escape your origins, asking how to love your neighbour when that neighbour is an addict, a criminal, wretched.

Beauty and poverty; violence, addiction and brotherhood. Written with unstoppable flow, Wretchedness mixes high and low culture in an inimitable way.