THE COWARDS

by Josef Skvorecky ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1970

This novel, written fifteen years ago when its author was 24 and before much of his work had been suppressed in his native Czechoslovakia, is prefaced by Romain Rolland's ""Any work of art that lives was created out of the very substance of its times."" The substance here is the last week of the Nazi Protectorate of Prague when the Russians are reputedly coming--and its youthful student narrator, Danny Smiricky, can't be too different from Josef Skvorecky. Danny and his friends have two primary preoccupations--girls and jazz--in fact music seems to be the only future possible just as he is sure Irena is the one he loves even when his attention and affection seems to be wandering. Irena also wants him to be a hero which is why he doesn't run away during all the shouting and the shooting at the close not knowing that he has already lost her. . . . The story itself, no more controlled than this providential time, has an undeviating sense of truth and more. . . a topsyturvy momentum and surprisingly carefree vitality, much of which of course is Danny's.

Pub Date: April 1, 1970

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Grove

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1970

Categories: FICTION