WHEN EVE WAS NAKED

A big collection of 24 autobiographical stories written between 1949 and 1998 (and most of which were previously published and collected) by the Czech expatriate (now Canadian) author of Two Murders in My Double Life (2001), etc. The stories are arranged to record the life of Škvorecký’s fictional alter ego Danny Smiricky (who narrates many of them), ranging from anecdotal memories of childhood (e.g., “Why I Lernt to Reed”) through pictures of life under both Nazi and Communist domination (the plaintive title story, about growing up within the shadow of a burgeoning Hitler Youth Movement; “Song of Forgotten Years,” an expression of Škvorecký’s well-documented love of American jazz) to retrospective pieces like “A Magic Mountain and a Willowy Wench,” an account of a late-life return to the narrator’s native village. This very uneven volume therefore showcases both Škvorecký’s tendencies toward labored whimsy and bland generalization and his distinctive ingenuity and charm.

When this writer is good, he’s very, very good. When he isn’t, you’re better off reading Kundera or Kafka.