The Wooden Village

Rivers of Babylon #2

by Peter Pišťanek, Donald Rayfield (Editor), Peter Petro (Translator)

Set around the wooden snack bars in a Bratislava of thieves and pornographers, the characters of Rivers of Babylon sink to new depths and rise to new heights. A naïve American Slovak blunders into Rácz’s world and nearly loses his life in this black comedy.

Genres: Fiction

205 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Pišťanek was a prose writer who managed to come out with a new type of prose at the beginning of the 1990's. He began publishing at the end of the 1980's in Slovenské pohľady, the best literary magazine in those years. His novelistic debut, Rivers of Babylon was an unusual success with the readers as well as the critics. The author described what was then a non-traditional topic for the Slovak literature - the Bratislava underground - using very expressive language and a variety of stylistic levels. The characters that fill his novel are small-time crooks and bigime entrepreneurs-privatizers as well as prostitutes. The only ambition of these people is to make their life more pleasant which, in their understanding, means to cheat, exploit, or destroy the others. In this world, one person manages to make his way to the top, a man from the village, the main character Racz, due to his unswerving pursuit of power and money. Somewhere in the background of these activities, the revolutionary changes of 1989 (the break-up of the Soviet Empire, the liberation of Eastern Europe) unfold. Inspiration for this novel comes from the para-literature and Pišťanek stressed the rectilinear narrative and fast-paced plot. While he presented the situation in an impersonal, laconic manner, he was precise in his analysis of the actual situation, even though the subject of his work may have been rather bizarre and grotesque. The Young Dônč is a collection of three long short stories: Debutante, The Young Dônč, and Music. In the story The Young Dônč we encounter the topic of the degeneration of the Dônč family caused not only by alcoholism of all its members, but also by its accompanying feature: the total ignorance and disinterest in anything that goes on outside the territory of their own home. The author parodied here some texts of previous periods, nevertheless, his irony was aimed at the present. Even his story Music, with its grotesque elements, is a precise sociological probe of the "normalized" life of the Seventies. Pišťanek followed-up his successful novel by publishing Rivers of Babylon 2, or Wooden Village, and Rivers of Babylon 3, or Fredy's End. This trilogy is so unusual, provocative and controversial that it will take Slovak criticism and literature in general some time to come to terms with it. One should also not overlook his fascinating The Tales of Vlado the Great and The New Tales of Vlado the Great. These are satirical tales that combine the charm of Hassidic fairy tales, Sufi instructional tales, and Slovak folktales with Buddhist koans in
a transcendent manner, so that even the intended target was said to have enjoined reading them.

Rivers of Babylon (1991), The Young Dônč (Mladý Dônč, 1993), Rivers of Babylon 2, or Wooden Village (Rivers of Babylon 2, alebo Drevená dedina, 1994), The Tales of Vlado the Great (Skazky o Vladovi, 1995), The New Tales of Vlado the Great (Nové skazky o Vladovi, 1998), Rivers of Babylon 3, or Fredy's End (Rivers of Babylon 3, alebo Fredyho koniec, 1999)

Reviews

[Nina Marcineková · Rating 3 out of 5]

o dosť slabšie. dejová línía až rušivo neusporiadaná a postavy sa pridávajú a odoberajú len tak, bez stmelovacieho materiálu. stále je to však (aspoň občas) sranda. žiaľ, jednotka vystrelila latku do stratosféry.

[Kristína · Rating 5 out of 5]

Toto som hltala stránku po stránke!

[Tatiana Jančáriková · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Preco si skoro vsetci Slovaci myslia, ze podnikat znamena kupit parok za tri koruny, ohriat ho a predat za sedem? Cely skurveny narod si posuva z ruky do ruky jeden parok! A kto bude vyrabat vyrobky? Tovar? Kde su ti remeselnici, fachmani? Kde v pici sa podeli? Mali sme sikovnych ludi! V Amerike dodnes spominaju na slovenskych murarov a monterov! A tu? On, Martin, siel z Bratislavy a cestou uvidel take stavby, ze v Amerike by za to vyviedli celu stavebnu catu von, postavili k muru a odstrelili! A architekt? Elektricke kreslo! Demn fakin sit!"

Dvojka kultovej klasiky Rivers of Babylon nas opat zavedie do hotela Ambasador, ci skor na parkovisko pred hotelom, kde sidli krcma a pohostinstvo Drevena dedina. Vonku stale zuria devatdesiate roky a hrdina jednotky, kuric-slash-selfmademan Racz je uz za vodou, majitel niekolkych hotelov, sukromnej bezpecnostnej sluzby, developer, podnikatel s presahom do politiky, manzel a otec. On, Racz, si tu strihne len epizodnu rolu, zaostrene mame na jeho byvalku Silviu, ktora si po navrate z Rakuska otvara v Bratislave klub, po slovensky bordel. V klube spoji prijemne s uzitocnym nas stary znamy Fredy Sparsvajn. Menej sa dari manzelom Ferimu a Erzike, ktori zistuju, ze pretlct sa v hlavnom meste je narocnejsie, ako si mysleli.

Stale je to vynikajuci Pistanek s typickou pistankovskou lexikou aj syntaxou, hoci pribeh je rozdrobeny a na rozdiel od suvislejsej jednotky ide len o seriu skecov okolo hlavnych postav. Skalnych Pistankovych citatelov a citatelky potesi navrat postav z poviedky Muzika zo zbierky Mlady Donc. Nechybaju takmer pornograficke sceny napisane lepsie ako 50 shades of boring.

Malokto nas Slovakov opisal tak drsne a pravdivo ako Pistanek. Opakujem sa, ale toto patri do povinneho citania a maturitnych otazok.

[Robert Frecer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Miestami sa Pistankovi vytratil ten cit pre situacny humor z #1ky, a niektore situacie su uz prestrelene za hranicu vtipu. Ale stale vynikajuce pribehy z bratislavsko-novoveskeho-drobnokriminalneho prostredia, to ja, citatel, velmi ocenujem. On, Pistanek, ma stale patent na najoriginalnejsiu gramaticku formu vyznacenia priamej reci, to sa mu, Pistankovi, musi nechat.

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Snáď ešte vydarenejšie ako jednotka! Typická groteska sa v 'Drevenej dedine' nafukuje a rozširuje natoľko, až z postáv a ich osudov tvorí prehnanú karikatúru.
Vulgárnosť je ešte drsnejšia a nechutnejšia, až sa čitateľ pýta, aký je rozdiel medzi kvalitným románom a literárnym brakom.
Za mňa jednoznačne a jedinečne: výborná situačná, ale aj postavová komika, ktorá ústi v nečakaných zvratoch a čitateľskom pobavení.

[Harry Rutherford · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the sequel to Rivers of Babylon, which I read recently, and book two of a trilogy.

Rivers of Babylon, you may remember, follows a character called Rácz as he fights his way up from stoking the boilers of a big hotel in Bratislava to become a powerful businessman/crime lord. The Wooden Village focuses on one of the minor characters from that novel: Freddy Piggybank, who works in the hotel car park.

I didn't think it was quite so successful; it suffers not so much from the absence of Rácz as a character but the lack of an equally compelling narrative framework. Rivers of Babylon had a whole cast of minor characters and subplots, but it was held together by the remorseless rise of Rácz; I don't think the second book has such a strong core. The tone has shifted a bit, too; it's still scathing and vulgar and energetic, but it seems to have lost the ferocious anger that powered the first book. It feels like a shift away from satire towards farce.

Anyway, here's an extract. Freddy has just been told that the council is closing the car park and that he will therefore be losing his job:

Freddy sits there lifelessly. Only now does he feel the whole impact of his cruel fate. This is the end of Freddy. Life will not be worth living now. Where will he go? What will happen to him? Back to the brickyard? They're laying off workers there. And his parents? What will his parents say? The vein in his head begins to pound dangerously. Freddy should be taking his medication, but he just sits there. I might as well croak, he thinks, full of self-pity. He imagines big headlines in the daily papers: BANKRUPT CAR PARK ATTENDANT DIES ON HIS LOT!.. HE ONLY WANTED TO LOOK AFTER CARS!.. ANOTHER VELVET REVOLUTION VICTIM? Yes, he'll probably die here. The bitch from town council will read the paper and her conscience will bother her until she dies. Freddy wallows in his misery and rather pleasant self-pity. His chest heaves mightily a few times and he sighs with sadness. No, Piggybank realises, his death will not be headline news. Maybe some paper will have a little piece about it in the miscellaneous section: MENTALLY DISTURBED MISER DIES OF STROKE IN CAR PARK. Or something like that.

Freddy makes a decision. He will survive. He won't allow his tragic death, a number one event for him, to become a source of entertainment fro some fool having his morning coffee. No! Freddy will fight. He will have revenge on this fucking government for this humiliation. He will live off crime. He will sink deep into the muck. He will steal and so on, until they catch up with him and lock him up in jail. And he'll die in jail. As a sort of silent protest. As an example of what this government did to an honest businessman, Alfred Mešťánek, who only wanted to guard cars until his death and make an honest living. From now on, no wickedness will be wicked enough for Freddy!

I'd certainly recommend you read Rivers of Babylon, and if you enjoy that, you'll probably enjoy this one too; it's just not as good, I think.

[Janko Hudáček]

Zo sondy do bratislavskej low-class sa postupne stáva dospelácka rozprávka. Mal som spočiatku výhrady; už nemám. Pišťanek síce stráca dych, no tají to, klame telom a ja mu to celé hltám za večer. Spokojnosť.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slabší jak první díl, místy mi to přišlo takové dost sílené a tím, že jednotlivé osudy postav už nebyly tak propletené, tomu trochu chyběl šmrnc a nějaký pořádný spojovací prvek. Ale pořád to má svou specifickou atmosféru, to jo.

[lukas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Toto je môj gilty plešr ako by Martín povedal, slabšie ako frst ale stil gud

[Caroline Turazová · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pre mňa Drevená dedina zatiaľ vedie! Páčila sa mi ešte o niečo viac ako prvá časť. Konečne som si tiež zvykla na spôsob, akým Pišťanek píše, a tak sa mi hneď ľahšie čítala! Ani v tejto časti nechýba autorov typický ostrý humor, mnohé vulgarizmy, drzosť, s akou dokáže písať - ani v tomto diele si nedáva servítku pred ústa! Už teraz sa teším na poslednú časť tejto trilógie!

[Lani Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Does not hit the heights of the first novel. Really suffers from the absence of Racz and Video Urban. The Freddy Piggybank plot line is enjoyable but new characters introduced such as "The Lady" and Martin Junec are in my opinion poorly executed.

[Patrick Al-de Lange · Rating 4 out of 5]

Focussing on the underbelly of Bratislava society, Pišťanek paints a tragic picture but fills it with farce and comedy. The translation seems a bit stiff, but the story more than makes up for that.

[Jan Lipak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Takto po rokoch, znova, a stale potesi.

[Citatelkatami · Rating 5 out of 5]

brutalne unhinged, love it. a fredyho character development bol crazy

[Martina · Rating 1 out of 5]

After reading first captures, I decided to quite the book .For one simple reason when I asked myself: What does the book bring to me? How will my knowledge of the world arise? How will i grow after reading this book? So I came to a conclusion that it doesn´t bring me anything good. I truly liked the open dialoges in the first part but this one was just too much for me to continue. However I know that the autor described very truly how it is in real life, but maybe my intention is just to keep my believe in good world and good people for a little longer.

[!Tæmbuŝu]

Reviewed by The Complete Review

[Martin Dubéci · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jednotka bola lepšia. Stále je to však kniha, pri ktorej sa budete nahlas smiať. 90s!