Grandpa

In the novel Grandfather, Jan Novák offers another story connected with his own family; as the terse title suggests, the narrative this time revolves around the author's grandfather, a Central Bohemian farmer who was struck down by history and the brutality of the communist government and who fascinates and frightens his grandson at the same time. The book is constructed with a typically Novakian swing: A sequence of short, sharply pointed chapters gradually composes an impressive picture of "Grandpa Concrete Heart", "Grandma Royal Cobra" and other members of the author's family, as well as their neighbours and acquaintances, while showing the clash of "big" and "small" history in the backdrop of a village in the Labe region during the forced collectivization of the 1950s. < br> < br> The literary qualities of the text and the author's narrative mastery were also highlighted by the expert jury, which awarded Jan Novák the prestigious Josef Škvorecký Prize for his novel Grandfather.