Engineer of Human Souls: (Czech Literature)

About the Book

The Engineer of Human Souls is a labyrinthine comic novel that investigates the journey and plight of novelist Danny Smiricky, a Czech immigrant to Canada. As the novel begins, he is a professor of American literature at a college in Toronto. Out of touch with his young students, and hounded by the Czech secret police, Danny is let loose to roam between past and present, adopting whatever identity that he chooses or has been imposed upon him by History.

About the Author :
Josef Skvorecky is the author of "The Cowards," "The Bass Saxophone," "The Engineer of Human Souls," and "Dvorak in Love," among other works. He is the winner of Canada's Governor General's Award. He and his wife, Zdena, divide their time between Toronto and Venice, Florida.

Review :
A funny, despairing, satirical, compassionate, sprawling, gloomy, provocative, prophetic, angry, and entertaining book. One of the most important novels ever written in Canada. --Canadian Forum It is a relief to read him, to know that there are still writers like him who have things to say that are vitally important for all of us . . . What he writes about rivets the soul. --Alan Sillitoe It is magnificent! . . . It marks an exceptional moment in history . . . It is a magnum opus. --Milan Kundera Skvorecky would probably chide us for dismissing any of the injustices and griefs that abound in [the novel]. They are real and they are gruesome. And yet we put the novel down with a sense of joy at the plenitude of life. --Michael Henry Heim Starred Review. This powerful, moving, yet often hilarious novel is an example of cultural meditation at its best. [Skvorecky is] one of the major literary figures of our time . . . a novelist of the first rank . . . one of the masters of current Czech literature . . . His novels are sad, funny--and utterly gripping. A complex, challenging analysis of contemporary politics and society, The Engineer of Human Souls will become a milestone in the evolution of world literature. A deep pleasure to read. Among its many other virtues, The Engineer of Human Souls is perhaps the funniest academic novel since Malcolm Bradbury's The History Man. By turns comic or sad and bitter, Skvorecky's book is a marvelous exploration of the human condition. Josef Skvorecky is unquestionably an important writer, blending a great humorous talent with a restless, sustained, probing moral inquisitiveness . . . The Engineer of Human Souls will certainly introduce the reader to the distinctive Skvorecky world. Skvorecky is so much of a writer that the moment he puts pen to paper, he can't help being an artist. Starred Review.This powerful, moving, yet often hilarious novel is an example of cultural meditation at its best. What better check on general doctrine than the poet's and the novelist's 'small stories, ' the kind that Josef Skvorecky recounts with such verve and generosity.