Wretchedness
Published on 2. June 2020
Book
Paperback/Softback
176 pages
978-1-911508-76-2 (ISBN)
Description
Winner of the 2021 Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize
Shortlisted for the 2016 August Prize
Longlisted for the 2021 International Booker Prize
Malmoe,
Sweden. A cellist meets a spun-out junkie. That
could have been me. His mind starts to glitch between his memories and the
avant-garde music he loves, and he descends into his past, hearing all over
again the chaotic song of his youth. He emerges to a different sound, heading
for a crash.
From sprawling housing projects to underground clubs and squat parties, Wretchedness is a blistering trip through the underbelly of Europe's cities. Powered by a furious, unpredictable beat, this is a paean to brotherhood, to those who didn't make it however hard they fought, and a visceral indictment of the poverty which took them.
Shortlisted for the 2016 August Prize
Longlisted for the 2021 International Booker Prize
Malmoe,
Sweden. A cellist meets a spun-out junkie. That
could have been me. His mind starts to glitch between his memories and the
avant-garde music he loves, and he descends into his past, hearing all over
again the chaotic song of his youth. He emerges to a different sound, heading
for a crash.
From sprawling housing projects to underground clubs and squat parties, Wretchedness is a blistering trip through the underbelly of Europe's cities. Powered by a furious, unpredictable beat, this is a paean to brotherhood, to those who didn't make it however hard they fought, and a visceral indictment of the poverty which took them.
Reviews / Votes
'What can a survivor do with their history? Can you be loyal to the friends you left behind? Andrzej Tichy turns this wretched reality into something poignant. His polyphonic novel has a rough, rhythmic melody and a ferocious rage.' -- August Prize JudgesMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
High Wycombe
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 197 mm
Width: 132 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
194 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-911508-76-2 (9781911508762)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Persons
Andrzej Tichy was born in Prague to a Polish mother and a Czech father and has lived in Sweden since 1981. In Sweden, Wretchedness was a finalist for the August Prize and won the Eyvind Johnson Prize, while Purity was a finalist for the 2021 Nordic Council Literature Prize. A translator Swedish and Norwegian literature, Nichola Smalley is also publicist at And Other Stories. In 2015 she finished a PhD exploring the use of contemporary urban vernaculars in Swedish and UK rap and literature at UCL. Her translations range from a Swedish book about Brazilian football (Jogo Bonito by Henrik Brandao Joensson (Yellow Jersey Press)), to the latest novel by Norwegian superstar Jostein Gaarder, An Unreliable Man (Weidenfeld & Nicolson).