The Hideout

A kind, blundering Czech engineer is pressured by the Nazi government to hand over his invention, which could be key to their military operations. He flees to Paris, hoping to sell his invention to the French government instead; yet when the Germans invade France, he is forced into hiding, and spends months in a dark, damp cellar. Alone, he dwells on his memories - of his troubled marriage, and his decision to leave his wife behind in Czechoslovakia. When he is given the unexpected chance to redeem himself, both to his wife and history, he seizes it with utter determination - even though this heroic act will be his last. The Hideout is the man's last love letter to his wife, told with fiery tension and rich in human understanding. Atmospheric and gripping from the start, it is beautiful and dramatic, emotional and utterly unforgettable.

About the Author :
Egon Hostovsky (1908-1973) was the youngest of eight children in a Jewish family in Czechoslovakia. When the Germans occupied the country, he fled the country and ended up in New York, where he worked at the exiled Czechoslovakian government's consulate. He is one of the authors who shaped Czech literature during the inter-war period, and who helped give form to the emergence of Central European literature represented by writers such as Franz Kafka, Joseph Roth and Stefan Zweig (he and Zweig were cousins).

Review :
A superb writer The Hideout is important as an encouraging example of a new spiritual trend in European literature A remarkable novel... As absorbing reading it matches any popular novel, yet it does so without the customary devices Hostovsky delights in discoveries of the depths and oddities, the strange courses and subtle transformations of human souls... A forceful language rich in images adds to the pleasure of reading Whether charting transient freedom in Paris, "city of light rustlings, of sweetly secret speech, of blue grayness", or chronicling inner turmoil, this overlooked classic is both beautiful and intense Hostovsky (The Arsonist), a Jewish Czech writer and distant relative of Stefan Zweig, explores madness, heroism, and salvation in this intense, dreamlike novella... This captivating novella dramatizes one man's existential conflict within the larger, worldwide conflagration A dark firecracker of a book... tantalisingly knitting together the philosophical novel, the existential thriller, the spy romance and the noir war story... a real find This strange novella hides more than just its straightforward narrative The Hideout is an important work of existentialism that recalls Albert Camus's The Stranger and Jean-Paul Sartre's Nausea in terms of probing the reality of self-knowledge and the nature of good and evil. Though dark, the novel has a poetry all its own... The Hideout is not without horrifying moments of violence, but it offers a glimpse of transcendence while shaking one to the core... This English translation of Egon Hostovsky's Czech masterpiece creates an unforgettable account of a war refugee in his darkest hour