Background
Skvorecky, Josef Vaclav was born on September 27, 1924 in Nachod, Czechoslovakia. Son of Josef Karel and Anna (Kurazova) Skvorecky. arrived Canada, 1969.
(The Engineer of Human Souls is a labyrinthine comic novel...)
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.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1564781992/?tag=2022091-20
( In Josef Škvorecký's first novel written in English, th...)
In Josef Škvorecký's first novel written in English, the narrator lives in two radically dissimilar worlds: the exile world of the post-Communist Czech Republic where old feuds, treacherous betrayals, and friendships persevere; and the comfortable, albeit bland world of middle-class Canada. Murder intrudes upon both world. One features a young female sleuth, a college beauty queen, jealousy in the world of academia, and a neat conclusion. The other is a tragedy caused by evil social forces and philosophies, in which a web of lies insidiously entangles Sidonia, the narrator's wife. A brilliantly stylish tour de force in which the bright, sarcastic comedy of one tale sharply contrasts with the dark, elegiac bitterness of the other, Two Murders in My Double Life confirms Škvorecký's reputation as a versatile and engaging writer.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312420269/?tag=2022091-20
(Will be shipped from US. Used books may not include compa...)
Will be shipped from US. Used books may not include companion materials, may have some shelf wear, may contain highlighting/notes, may not include CDs or access codes. 100% money back guarantee.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014BH8ATA/?tag=2022091-20
( This energetic and hilarious novel is made even more im...)
This energetic and hilarious novel is made even more important by the current final thawing of the long, Communist winter in Czechoslovakia. The witness in 1948 to a baffling event labled by Catholic townspeople as a miracle and by the Communist Party as a fraud, cynical Czech Danny Smiricky finds himself drawn into an investigation of the event twenty years later during the 1968 Prague Spring
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0394572203/?tag=2022091-20
(Third in the series of linked detective tales featuring t...)
Third in the series of linked detective tales featuring the "downbeat Prague cop" of The Mournful Demeanour of Lieutenant Boruvka and Sins for Father Knox. This collection of six stories takes place around the time of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393027856/?tag=2022091-20
(Will be shipped from US. Used books may not include compa...)
Will be shipped from US. Used books may not include companion materials, may have some shelf wear, may contain highlighting/notes, may not include CDs or access codes. 100% money back guarantee.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01FGPFB5M/?tag=2022091-20
(Set in Czechoslovakia during 1968, Boruvka is puzzled by ...)
Set in Czechoslovakia during 1968, Boruvka is puzzled by the younger generation - it is the time of sexual revolution and experimentation with LSD. The sad detective is on the trail of another murderer. This volume follows The Mournful Demeanor of Lieutenant Boruvka and Sins for Father Knox.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0571161626/?tag=2022091-20
(Has a small inscription on the title page which may be fr...)
Has a small inscription on the title page which may be from the author (but I can't read Czech or the writing!!)!!!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0017J9NTC/?tag=2022091-20
( “Ten more mystery stories by the gifted Czech novelist....)
“Ten more mystery stories by the gifted Czech novelist. . . . Offbeat. . . . tongue-in-cheek entertainment for aficionados of classic puzzlers in the Ellery Queen tradition―especially those who’ll also appreciate Skvorecky’s darkish, edgy texture.” ―Kirkus Reviews A clergyman named Ronald A. Knox once set forth a set of rules for writing detective fiction. In ten new stories (two featuring Lieutenant Boruvka), a crime occurs that violates one of Father Knox's rules, thus serving up a double challenge: Who dunnit? and Which rule was broken?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393307875/?tag=2022091-20
( An exuberant tour de force. ―James Marcus, The Nation ...)
An exuberant tour de force. ―James Marcus, The Nation Here is a wonderfully imagined picture of a little known period in American musical history. In 1892, at the height of his prodigious powers, Antonin Dvorak was persuaded to leave his native Bohemia to come to New York to be director of the National Conservatory for Music. In this exuberant novel, Josef Skvorecky tells the story of Dvorak’s utterly requited love affair with young America, the anthem of which is his famous Symphony in E Minor, “From the New World.”
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393305481/?tag=2022091-20
("A complex bio-mystery about the Kafkaesque machinations ...)
"A complex bio-mystery about the Kafkaesque machinations of politics." (Aritha van Herk, The Globe and Mail) In Josef Skvorecký's first novel written in English, the narrator lives in two worlds: the exile world of post-Communist Czechoslovakia, where old feuds, treacherous betrayals, and friendships that have lasted through wars, occupations, and revolutions survive; and the fatuously self-congratulatory comfortable world of a Canadian university, in which grave attention is given to matters such as whether a certain male professor has left his office door open wide enough while interviewing a female student. Murder suddenly intrudes upon both of these worlds. One features a young female sleuth, a college beauty queen, professional jealousies, and a neat conclusion. The other is a tragedy caused by evil social forces, in which a web of lies works insidiously to entangle Sidonia, who is a publisher of suppressed books and the narrator's wife. A brilliantly stylish tour de force in which the bright, sarcastic comedy of one tale sharply contrasts with the dark, elegiac bitterness of the other, Two Murders in My Double Life confirms Skvorecký's reputation as one of our most versatile, engaging, and compassionate writers.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0374280258/?tag=2022091-20
( In the six tales of The Swell Season, Skvorecky traces ...)
In the six tales of The Swell Season, Skvorecky traces the libidinous ardours of young Danny, a teenager growing up in the forties. These wonderful tales, full of wry humour and unexpected plot twists, seem to add up to a fond portrait of an innocent era - this is, however, wartime Czechoslovakia, and the fragile world of the adolescent falls under the shadow of the Nazi presence.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0880010908/?tag=2022091-20
( Things looked very black for Lieutenant Boruvka in The ...)
Things looked very black for Lieutenant Boruvka in The End of Lieutenant Boruvka. But in this, the fourth and (perhaps) final volume in the series, the sad-eyed detective turns up again, this time in Canada. Boruvka is working as a parking-lot attendant in downtown Toronto, after a spectacular escape from a Czech prison which provoked an international scandal, when a young woman is murdered, perhaps in a spy coverup. Boruvka lends his years of experience and hard-won pessimism to the neophyte Canadians on the case (including his daughter, who works for a feminist detective agency). By having this story--his most riveting and funniest yet--narrated by the murdered woman's brother, an amiable WASP, Josef Skvorecky sets the Old World against the New, and pokes fun at the absurdities on both sides of our cultural divide. In the end, as an old war crime is avenged, the narrator discovers the source of Lieutenant Boruvka's mournful demeanour.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/039302928X/?tag=2022091-20
( This energetic and hilarious novel is made even more im...)
This energetic and hilarious novel is made even more important by the current final thawing of the long, Communist winter in Czechoslovakia. The witness in 1948 to a baffling event labled by Catholic townspeople as a miracle and by the Communist Party as a fraud, cynical Czech Danny Smiricky finds himself drawn into an investigation of the event twenty years later during the 1968 Prague Spring
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0886193427/?tag=2022091-20
novelist English literature educator
Skvorecky, Josef Vaclav was born on September 27, 1924 in Nachod, Czechoslovakia. Son of Josef Karel and Anna (Kurazova) Skvorecky. arrived Canada, 1969.
Doctor of Philosophy, Charles U., Czechoslovakia, 1951; Doctor of Humane Letters (honorary), State University of New York, 1986; postgraduate, Masaryk U., 1991; postgraduate, U. Calgary, 1992; postgraduate, U. Toronto, 1992.
Visiting lecturer, U. Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 1969-1970; writer-in-residence, U. Toronto, 1970-1971; associate professor, U. Toronto, 1971-1975; Professor of English, U. Toronto, 1975-1990; professor emeritus, since 1990. Lecturer on literature topics Voice of America, since 1973. Advisory to President Vaclav Havel, 1990.
( In Josef Škvorecký's first novel written in English, th...)
(The Engineer of Human Souls is a labyrinthine comic novel...)
(Third in the series of linked detective tales featuring t...)
(Set in Czechoslovakia during 1968, Boruvka is puzzled by ...)
( This energetic and hilarious novel is made even more im...)
( This energetic and hilarious novel is made even more im...)
( In the six tales of The Swell Season, Skvorecky traces ...)
(Has a small inscription on the title page which may be fr...)
( Things looked very black for Lieutenant Boruvka in The ...)
("A complex bio-mystery about the Kafkaesque machinations ...)
( Winner of the 1984 Governor General's Award for Fiction. )
( “Ten more mystery stories by the gifted Czech novelist....)
(first American edition;322 pages;)
( An exuberant tour de force. ―James Marcus, The Nation ...)
(Will be shipped from US. Used books may not include compa...)
(Will be shipped from US. Used books may not include compa...)
(Book by Skvorecky, Josef)
(Will be shipped from US. Brand new copy.)
Fellow Royal Society Canada. Member Canada Writers' Union, Authors' League American, Crime Writers Canada, Mystery Writers American, The International Poets, Playwrights, Editors, Essayists and Novelists association Club, Canada branch Czechosolovak National Association Canada (member Presidium), Council Free Czechoslovakia (member Presidium), Order of Canada.
Married Zdenka Josefa Salivarova, March 30, 1958.