[ book tip by Christine Rigler ] In 2009, Suhrkamp published a translation by Maria Weissenböck – a slim narrative edition by Taras Prochasko with the delightfully understated title of “Daraus lassen sich ein paar Erzählungen machen” (“This is worth a few stories”).
Mirko Schwanitz, the radio journalist and east/south-east expert, wrote a well-researched and interesting article about Taras Prochasko – also known as “the García Márquez of the Ukraine” in which he noted: “Alongside Juri Andruchowytsch and Andrej Kurkow, Taras Prochasko is one of Ukraine’s most prominent authors. He spent his entire childhood in Delatyn and Ivano-Frankivsk. (...) During the Soviet era, there was a hidden monastery at his great-grandfather’s home. Consecrated water from the Jordan, Easter breads and painted Easter eggs were as normal during his childhood as red neckties were for others.” The literary critics enthusiastically responded to Prochasko’s innovation of telling stories within stories and in a style where every sentence forms a separate universe.
Taras Prochasko commented on the significance of his work: “It seems to me that the style and mode of writing and speaking is an author’s most important mechanism. By that I do not mean the style or genre, but that a human being is more original than a text and you can recognize this person in every text. [...] It is every author’s dream to write a masterpiece – a way of taking stock, the book of all books, where the author’s voice and intonations are condensed. I cannot say whether I have written anything similar. I can only state that I have written enough to be able to stop doing so at the present time. If I were to stop existing as an author now, every one of my published books would be totally adequate. But perhaps I will write something even better – something for myself, and more importantly for the readers, which would be more substantial.”
Taras Prochasko will read from his narrative “Nekropolis”, due for publication in translation by Olaf Kühl in the magazine “Akzente”.
[Favourite quotation] “Uncle Mychas was so good at building ovens and cellars that after his arrest, he was not imprisoned for an entire year. (...) Finally, a commission in Kiev found out that the convict was still in custody in the locality, although he should have long since been sent to east in the Soviet Union. Uncle was immediately transferred to Stanislau to be deported to Siberia on the first train. The priest from Dora, a friend of Uncle Mychas, managed to send him off with a sack of dry bread.”

[ book info ] Prochasko, Taras: Daraus lassen sich ein paar Erzählungen machen. (original language: Deutsch) Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main, 2009 . ISBN: 978-3-518-12578-6.