Apartment
One Flat, Two Directions
Novels are like single-person households. What happens when a second author moves into the book? The result is a novel for two, a tense cohabitation of two stories that touch and yet pass each other by on every double-page spread. One story belongs to Daniel, whose father is dying; the other belongs to Zuzana, who has left her partner. The two are connected only by the flat they share and by palindromes written on the back of notes. But can't life also be read the same way from both sides? Perhaps. In any case, it's up to the reader which side to start with. Just be careful: what is a game for one person may be a fateful choice for Daniel and Zuzana.
What they wrote about the book:
We wanted to write a book together. Because no one has done that for a long time. To find out what it's like when the different perspectives of the characters are not simulated by a single author. And we also wanted to give the reader the chance to read the novel from two sides, and thus decide how it begins and how it ends.
- Jana Šrámková and Jan Němec, authors
It will just be more practical in every way to believe that it's me.
- Zuzana
I've never really understood people who completely cut off their exes. They claim the past is gone. Except the past is what made a person who they are. So it's never gone. Sweet, bitter secret: the present is what's gone.
- Daniel
Jan Němec
(b. 1981) studied religious studies and sociology, and now lectures at the Theatre Faculty of the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno. He is the author of the novels Dějiny světla (A History of Light, 2013), for which he received the European Union Prize for Literature, Možnosti milostného románu (The Possibilities of a Love Story, 2019), which was nominated for a Magnesia Litera award, and the short story collection Liliputin (2022). With Petr Vizina, he prepared the book of interviews on contemporary spirituality Znamení neznámého (A Sign of the Unknown, 2021). His books have been translated into fifteen languages. He is the editor-in-chief of the monthly magazine Host and a regular contributor to the weekly magazine Respekt and Czech Radio.
Jana Šrámková
(b. 1982) studied theology at the Evangelical Theological Seminary, creative writing at the Josef Škvorecký Literary Academy, and scenography at DAMU. She writes prose (Jiří Orten Prize for Hruškadóttir), children's books (Magnesia Litera for Fánka hvězdoplavec [Fánka the Star-sailor]), and scripts for comics (Muriel Prize for Matylda a Růžový vlk [Matylda and the Pink Wolf]), animated films (Czech Lion for Tonda, Slávka a kouzelné světlo [Tony, Shelly and the Magic Light]), and theatre. She teaches creative writing, and edits and reviews books. She writes slowly, lives in the Vysočina region, and is establishing a garden.
Specifications
Basic
Format & type of protection
| Code: | EK56861 |
| Manufacturer information |
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