Author Jerzy Pilch makes US critics' best of 2012 list

Jerzy Pilch: photo - wikipedia

Pilch, a winner of numerous Polish literary awards, was picked by Kirkus Reviews on account of a translation of his collection of short stories My First Suicide (Moj pierwsze samobojstwo).

The collection includes such characters as a football fan who has a weakness for girls with backpacks, and a man who reminisces about his attempts to take his life at the age of twelve.

“It’s hard to do justice to the outré and eccentric but gorgeous quality of Pilch’s prose,” Kirkus Reviews concluded.

“Here he manages to pull off some neat literary tricks, frequently and self-consciously undermining the seriousness of his subjects with pricks of irony.”

Pilch credited his translator, Berkeley professor David Frick, with his success.

“My stroke of luck was that in spite of the untranslatable character of my prose, I found an exceptional translator,” he told the Gazeta Wyborcza daily.

“David Frick is a very curious man,” he added.

Meanwhile, Pilch's international profile looks set to rise further, as a movie is currently being made in Krakow, based on his novel The Mighty Angel (Pod Mocnym Aniolem).

Angel (Aniol) is being directed by Wojciech Smarzowski (The Dark House, Rose), a resounding favourite with both Polish and international critics. (nh)