The Facade: M.N.O.P.Q.

by Libuše Moníková, John E. Woods (Translator)

Maltzahn, Orten, and Podol--three artists attempting to restore the frescoes of Bohemia's greatest Renaissance castle--and Nordanc and Qvietone--two archivists ricocheting across Eastern Europe--do their bit to undermine communism in Czechoslovakia

Genres: Fiction, Czech Literature

374 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Libuše Moníková was a Czech author, publishing in in the German language. In 1968, following the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, she left for Western Germany. She died in Berlin.

Reviews

[Ronald Morton · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Kolář was in Auschwitz after the war. There are no words for it, he said when he came back, and since then he has been trying to find a metaphor. He slashes canvases and pastes them back together again, crushes faces and reglues them - the logic of his collages are testimony to the same sense of order that governed each day in a concentration camp; there was a time for everything, wake-up call and workday schedules, only the killing occurred at random, at any time of day.” Orten drinks. “It’s different with me. My distortions are the result of a lack of talent, not of intent.["]

Maltzahn, Orten and Podol are artists working to restore frescoes to the walls of a castle in Freidland (maybe the one in the picture here); their methods are not permanent, so that after the anticipated four years of work for the original restoration, they will begin, again, to restore that which has now begun falling apart from their original resotrations. The work is admittedly Sisyphean, but they appear to enjoy it. Much of the original frescoes have degraded to the point of illegibility, so they just make things up as they go, and they are more free with their work higher up where the frescoes are not as easily viewed. All three men are artists in other mediums as well – outside of the fresco work – and a major focus of the book is on art and artists. This is primarily through these three major characters, but the book is heavily referential as well: books/authors (Jaroslav Hašek, René Daumal, Gogol, Dostoyevsky, Foucault, Ilf & Petrov), movies/directors (Kurosawa, Bergman, Chaplin, Masaki Kobayashi, Godard), operas composers (I got tired of noting stuff down around page 100, but Janáček is frequently referenced), and sundry sculptors and painters. The explorations and discussions of the artists tend to intermingle with mythologies; there is particular focus (unsurprisingly) on Eastern European (and, later, Siberian) mythologies, and artists, with some of the artists taking a mythological stature, where the stories (especially recantations of war efforts and, later, resistance/dissidence efforts) have an almost folkloric feel.

Contrasting this, the characters Qvietone and Nordanc provide a more scholarly/academic focus to the book, and at times the discussions and narratives around these particular characters take on an almost encyclopedic nature. Nordanc becomes an embedded part of the group of artists, but Qvietone plays a more adversarial role in the book, and provides a counterbalance to the artistic whims of the group (though he in his own way is whimsical, to considerably more pronounced affect).

The background of all of this is communist Czechoslovakia, and, eventually, Siberia – where the historic tensions arising from the intervention of 1968 come to a head – and Monikova presents a detailed portrait of life in the communist regime, layering in a depth of history to the proceedings. The book is both dark and whimsical, with some genuinely funny altercations and events. The copy I have references “magical realism” on the back cover, but outside of a few fever dream sections this appears to be misapplied. There are a few sections that dragged a bit for me, but overall this was an exceptionally solid, intelligent read.

[John Ronald · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a hilarious, joyful absurdist romp through a magical Eastern Bloc landscape. Imagine if the Good Soldier Svejk survived into the Communist era and had kids. The protagonists are those raucous children and they bedevil the authorities with their madcap irreverence and their never-ending restoration project working on "the Facade", which is a physical representation of a larger metaphorical reality of life in the Eastern Bloc. Originally written by in German by the author, a Czech dissident who died far too young and is buried in Berlin. I love her writing so much.

[Blazz J · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5. Fasada z očitnim kafkejansko-haškovskim pridihom sledi zgodbi resničnih štirih čeških umetnikov, ki so v 70-ih letih opravljali restavratorska dela na gradu Litomyšl, še dobremu stoletju poprej "čebelnjaku" češkega narodnega prebujenja. Njihov boemski pristop do dela in življenja, podkrepljenim s popivanjem, dobiva burkaške podobe - pretepi v gostilnah, nerodna postavitev grajske galerije, duhovito oponašanje preteklih poklicnih narodnjakov, pa vse do popotovanja na Japonsko, kamor po nekajmesečnem tavanju po azijskih delih Sovjetske zveze in kasneje zmrzovanju v sibirski tajgi niti ne pridejo. Moníková je v Fasadi združila Haška s Kafko in opozorila na njuno nesmrtnost v pripovedi - s kančkom paradoksa - manj izumetničen jezik prinese možnost bogatejše zgodbo, ki (ne)zahtevnega bralca ne bo utrujal.

[Bettie]

Description: Set in Czechoslovakia before the collapse of communism, the story revolves around three craftsmen. When they are commissioned to paint a fresco in Kyoto, they set off, only to lose their way in Siberia where they embark on a series of picaresque and surreal adventures.

ordered