Jsme tady

(We’re Here)

“The work of Jan Balabán has in many ways a prominent position, not only in the context of contemporary Czech literature.”

— Týden

About the Book
Original TitleJsme tady odcházíme
First Published2006
PublisherHost, Brno
Pages196
Rights Sold
UkraineAstrolabe – Lviv
BulgariaIzida – Sofia

One of the most significant literary events of recent years has undoubtedly been Jan Balabán’s short story book Maybe We’re Leaving. It was nominated for the State Prize, won the Lidové noviny Book of the Year 2004 and in the following year won the Magnesia Litera Award for prose. Since then, the author has become a household name in literature, and his new title We’re Here is all the more anticipated. In it, Balabán finds himself truly on the edge. As in the previous book, we find the heroes of the stories at turning points in their lives, when their past lives are collapsing: the communist actress Alexandra dying of cancer, Ludvík Chmelnický struggling with asthma, the abandoned Emil on the verge of suicide, or Svetlana tormented by a family tragedy. But Balabán goes even further. His heroes are not only bound by a web of distorted family relationships or personal weaknesses and fears, but the traumas of great history also indirectly interfere in their lives. However, something from the outside unexpectedly enters these fateful dramas that go to the very core of human existence – a knock on the door, a smile or a glance at a picture hanging in the kitchen – a light that mobilises the inner strength to turn the hourglass of human life around. We are here. The “we” here doesn’t just mean that the ten stories eventually come together as a whole and the fates of the individual characters intersect; it also says that we, along with them, are part of a never-ending story that also brings comfort and hope.

“Balabán’s new book ‘We’re Here’. The story in ten short stories is, like his previous title ‘Maybe We’re Leaving’, a kind of testimony about ordinary lives, which, however, may not seem ordinary at a closer look. The author convinces us once again that these stories and others like them are the stories of all of us, and we write them with every breath we take, every word or deed we say, throughout the time we are afforded in this world.”

— iLiteratura

“‘We’re Here’ is not just a collection of existential tragedies. Jan Balabán touches his characters with a special tenderness and compassion – he remains close to them despite all the dark shades that have settled in them.
Balabán’s new book has an intense metaphysical charge: even the most insignificant ‘pain under the arch of the ribs’ is suddenly imprinted into eternity.”

— Lidové noviny

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