The Ballad of Barnabas Pierkiel |
|
Author:
| Zyzak, Magdalena |
ISBN: | 978-0-8050-9510-4 |
Publication Date: | Apr 2014 |
Publisher: | Henry Holt & Company
|
Imprint: | Henry Holt & Company |
Book Format: | Hardback |
List Price: | AUD $36.99 |
Book Description:
|
A story of love and adventure in an imaginary Slavic nation on the brink of historic change-the debut of a ribald and raucous new literary voice. Set in the quaint (though admittedly backward) fictional nation of Scalvusia in 1939, The Ballad of Barnabas Pierkiel follows the exploits of a young swineherd with romantic delusions of grandeur. Desperate to attract the voluptuous Roosha, the Gypsy concubine of the local boot-and-shoe magnate, Barnabas and his short-legged steed Wilhelm get...
More DescriptionA story of love and adventure in an imaginary Slavic nation on the brink of historic change-the debut of a ribald and raucous new literary voice. Set in the quaint (though admittedly backward) fictional nation of Scalvusia in 1939, The Ballad of Barnabas Pierkiel follows the exploits of a young swineherd with romantic delusions of grandeur. Desperate to attract the voluptuous Roosha, the Gypsy concubine of the local boot-and-shoe magnate, Barnabas and his short-legged steed Wilhelm get embroiled in a series of scandals and misadventures, as every attempt at wooing ends in catastrophe. After the mysterious death of an important figure in the community, a witch-hunt ensues, and a stranger falls from the sky. Barnabas begins to see the terrible tide of history turning in his beloved hometown. The wonderfully eccentric supporting cast includes a priest driven mad by a fig tree, a gang of louts who taunt our reluctant hero at every turn, and a dim-witted vagabond with a goat for a wife. Even as her characters brush up against one of the darkest moments of the twentieth century, Magdalena Zyzak's humor and prose delight in the absurdities of the human animal.