Paral, Vladimir

North Haven. 1993. Catbird Press. 1st American Edition. Very Good in Dustjacket. 094577415x. Translated from the Czech by William Harkins. 291 pages. hardcover. keywords: Literature Translated Czech Eastern Europe . FROM THE PUBLISHER - Examining the way people manipulate and exploit each other, this novel tells of Sonya, a hotel maid who clings to a fairy-tale dream that someday a prince will come and save her. Since Sonya is young and beautiful, there are many princes who share her dream, but the princes are more like frogs, and instead of saving Sonya, they flirt with her, kidnap her, and give her mysterious directives. Dynamic and darkly comic, this novel's world is one where people will do almost anything to attain their dreams and where freedom is nothing but another fairy tale. In Czechoslovakia, Vladimir Paral has been the most popular serious novelist for more than twenty years. His Balzacian comedies of lack of manners, mixing farce and pathos, are as entertaining as they are powerful. In The Four Sonyas, Paral uses a Perils-of-Pauline story to examine the way people manipulate and exploit each other. Sonya is a hotel maid whose only possession is a fairy-tale dream that someday a prince will come and save her. Since Sonya is young and beautiful, there are many princes who share her dream. But the princes are actually frogs who play with Sonya, kidnap her, and give her mysterious directives. However, even they are really no more free than Sonya, nor more successful in realizing their dreams. What makes The Four Sonyas truly special is the mesmerizing dynamism of Paral's writing. Paral is one of the greatest stylists among contemporary authors, and his unique prose works just as well in English as it does in Czech. Although Paral's darkly comic vision is of a degraded Communist society, it is in many ways just as applicable to ours. His world is one where people will do almost anything to attain their dreams, where people long for certainties, and where freedom is nothing but another fairy tale. inventory #18869 ISBN: 094577415x.