Preface - American Elegy

The question of how to read a book is perhaps not as old as books themselves, but it probably emerged not long after they were written. It is particularly important in memoirs. Who is the author and what did he want to say? What is the relationship of the story's first plan to its intended strategy? Does it contain other messages along the lines of ancient esoteric texts? When the book first appeared on the US market in late June 2016, the political context helped to make it a commercial success. In August of that year, she was ranked number one by The New York Times. It stayed on the sales chart for another 100 weeks. It was already clear that Donald Trump was going to be the official nominee of the Republican Party in the fall presidential election, and Vance's Elegy became almost required reading among intellectuals, as it was judged to explain the support for Trump from the white working, and now perhaps increasingly non-working, class. The author described himself as a hillbilly - that's how we could translate the term hillbilly, literally Vilda of the Highlands - and in the original the book bears this title, Hillbilly Elegy. Hillbillies, however, are a slightly broader category. It refers to uneducated whites living off manual labor, living in rural, impoverished conditions, often in all sorts of shacks or trailer parks, a cluster of trailers in a secluded area or on the edge of a legitimate village. Sometimes they are also called white trash or rednecks. These are, of course, derogatory words on the verge of swearing, but Vance proudly claimed the term hillbilly and to some extent rehabilitates it as an expression of internal resistance against the majority society that despises the hillbillies. So how to read - or listen to - this book? I recommend it as an important document of the time, which helped the author and the protagonist in one person to a successful business and political career. This does not mean that we should not believe its contents. Vance's story, undoubtedly tactically stylized, as he presents it to us in his Elegy, yet it contains many interesting facts, valuable insights, true and informative descriptions as well as authentic testimonies. A politician's life is also complex and cannot be reduced to a simple career, or if you prefer, political imperative. - Tomáš Klvaňa 2025