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The Cowards

Josef Skvorecky

$35

Paperback

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English
Penguin
09 July 2010
'Benno blew a long note and it sounded hard and very sure, so I stopped worrying about him losing his tone while he was in the concentration camp. He hadn't.'

The Cowards (1958) is Josef Skvorecky's blackly comic tale of post-war politics that was immediately banned on publication. In 1945, in Kostelec,Danny is playing saxophone for the best jazz band in Czechoslovakia. Their trumpeter has just got out of a concentration camp, their bass player is only allowed in the band since he owns the bass, and the love of Danny's life is in love with somebody else. But Danny despairs most about the bourgeoisie patriots in his town playing at revolution in the face of the approaching Red Army - not least because it ruins the band's chance of any good gigs.
By:  
Imprint:   Penguin
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Dimensions:   Height: 198mm,  Width: 130mm,  Spine: 23mm
Weight:   303g
ISBN:   9780141047676
ISBN 10:   0141047674
Series:   Penguin Modern Classics
Pages:   416
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active

Josef Skvorecky (born in 1924) was a leading Czech novelist and dissident, a key figure in keeping alive from exile a liberal, humanistic Czech culture during the Cold War. His most famous novels are The Cowards, Miss Silver's Past, The Bass Saxophone and The Engineer of Human Souls. He died in 2012, at the age of eighty-seven.

Reviews for The Cowards

Anyone who wants to know how it felt to be young, idealistic and innocent at the end of the war should read The Cowards The Times Literary Supplement Sceptical, humourous, liberal and humane. London Review of Books [The series] sheds remarkable light on the literature, culture and politics of the region...anyone coming fresh to the field will be captivated by the richness, variety, humour and pathos of a classic literature that, through a shared historical experience, transcends national and linguistic boundaries. -- CJ Schuler Independent on Sunday This [series] is a wonderful idea ... They are absurdist parables, by turns hilarious, unsettling and enigmatic. -- Nicholas Lezard Guardian I urge you to go and read them. -- Adam Thirlwell New Statesman This new series of Central European Classics is important well beyond simply providing 'good reads'. -- Stephen Vizinczey Daily Telegraph


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