The Devil's Workshop - Softcover

Topol, Jachym

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1846274176 ISBN 13: 9781846274176

Publisher: Granta Books, 2013

Synopsis

The devil had his workshop here in Belarus. The deepest graves are in Belarus. But nobody knows about them'

A young boy grows up in Terezín - an infamous fortress town with a sinister past. Together with his friends he plays happily in this former Nazi prison, scouting the tunnels for fragments of history under the careful eye of one of its survivors, Uncle Lebo, until one day there is an accident, and he is forced to leave.

Returning to Terezín many years later, he joins Lebo's campaign to preserve the town, but before long the authorities impose a brutal crack-down, chaos ensues, and the narrator finds himself fleeing to Belarus, where fresh horrors drive him ever closer to the evils he had hoped to escape.

Bold, brilliant and blackly comic, The Devil's Workshop paints a deeply troubling portrait of two countries dealing with their ghosts and asks: at what point do we consign the past to history?

About this title

Book Description:

'The devil had his workshop in Belarus. That's where the deepest graves are. But no one knows about it.'

A young man grows up in a town with a sinister history. The concentration camp may have been liberated years ago, but its walls still cast their long shadows and some of the inhabitants are quite determined to not to allow anyone to forget.When the camp is marked for demolition, one of the survivors begins a campaign to preserve it, quickly attracting donations from wealthy benefactors, a cult-like following of young travellers, and a steady stream of tourists buying souvenir t-shirts.But before long, the authorities impose a brutal crack-down, leaving only an 'official' memorial and three young collaborators whose commitment to the act of remembering will drive them ever closer to the evils they hoped to escape.Bold, brilliant and blackly comic, The Devil's Workshop paints a deeply troubling portrait of a country dealing with its ghosts and asks: at what point do we consign the past to history?

About the Author:

JACHYM TOPOL is an award-winning writer who was famous in his youth as an underground poet, songwriter and journalist, and now for writing books that have most successfully and imaginatively captured the dislocation brought about by the fall of Communism. His novels include Gargling with Tar (Portobello, 2010), and Nightworks (forthcoming). The Devil's Workshop won the 2013 English PEN Award for Writing in Translation.

About this edition

• Publisher: Granta Books
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1846274176
• ISBN 13: 9781846274176
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 160