Colum McCann Knihy

Apeirogon je kniha o síle příběhu. Dozvíme se v ní o poslední večeři Françoise Miterranda, o ptácích i amatérských archeolozích, ale hlavní pozornost je upřena na dva muže, Ramiho a Bassama, a jejich osudy, jež se odvíjejí z opačných stran Zdi, ale nakonec se spojí. Colum McCann vypráví pravdivý příběh dvou otců, kteří přišli o dcery, dvou přátel usilujících o to samé, ačkoli jeden je Izraelec a druhý Palestinec. Všechny linie vyprávění vzájemně souvisejí, komunikují spolu a proplétají se, napříč staletími i kontinenty, jako Příběhy tisíce a jedné noci. Apeirogon je příběh lidství. Nenávisti, lásky a naděje.

V románu se ledacos točí okolo mrakodrapů Světového obchodního střediska. Nepíše se ovšem rok 2001 a věže nepadají k zemi, je rok 1974 a jednoho rána se ve výšce čtyřset metrů mezi oběma budovami objeví lano – a na něm Philippe Petit stráví dlouhých pětačtyřicet minut, než ho policie zatkne. Tento husarský kousek sledují i postavy románu – a ten den se jim všem změní život. Corrigan, pocházející z Irska, teď přežívá v nuzném bytě v Bronxu. Studoval sice v kněžském semináři a je z něj mnich, nejvíc ho ale zajímají místní prostitutky. Hlavně se mu líbí Jazzlyn, která má zrovna předstoupit předsoud kvůli drobnému kriminálnímu deliktu. Jenže soudce řeší mnohem delikátnější kauzu, má posoudit Petitův přečin. Autorův střídmý, ale nadmíru výstižný styl, místy s elegickým nádechem, líčí společenskou atmosféru New Yorku, tehdy ještě rozděleného na bohatý a mocný jih – Manhattan a rasově i sociálně problematický sever – Bronx.

Zoli prožívá dětství v době, která pro její lid znamená období nejhoršího pronásledování. Její rodina je vyvražděna Hlinkovou gardou a romská skupina, ve které pak v péči dědečka vyrůstá, se musí neustále skrývat. Pro Zoli je to však doba, kdy se sžívá s cikánskými tradicemi a především poznává sílu a moc hudby, která celému společenství pomáhá přežít. Začne skládat vlastní písně, a když po válce komunistický režim v Československu prohlásí Romy za jádro proletářské společnosti, Zoli se stane jednou z nejpopulárnějších představitelek proletářského básnictví. Pak ale dojde na naplňování paragrafu 72 o zákazu kočovnictví a Zolina popularita se obrací proti ní samé. Příběh volně inspirovaný osudem polské zpěvačky a básnířky Papuszy přináší strhující svědectví o konci jedné z kultur tvořících pestrou mozaiku předválečné a poválečné středoevropské společnosti.

Set in Ireland and America, the twelve gems in this award-winning volume are tales of exile, loss, love, and displacement. The characters--oddballs and outcasts, misfits and travelers--are all in search of a way back home, or a way to leave it--from the anorexic nun who ends her days in a Long Island convent hospital to the weathered boxing champ fond of stealing clothes from a New Orleans laundromat..

On a cold January day, J. Mendelssohn awakens in his Upper East Side apartment, frail and dependent on his carer. As he waits for the heating to kick in, the clacking pipes evoke memories of his childhood in Lithuania and Dublin, his esteemed career as a judge, and his late wife, Eileen. He later meets his son Elliot for lunch, but when Elliot leaves mid-meal, Mendelssohn finds himself dining alone as heavy snow falls outside. Shortly after leaving the restaurant, he suffers a brutal attack. Detectives investigate the incident, sifting through surveillance footage of Mendelssohn's movements, akin to a poet searching for the perfect word that will illuminate the entire narrative. The story unfolds through multiple perspectives, employing lyrical and hypnotic prose. This groundbreaking novella resonates deeply, complemented by three powerful stories set in Afghanistan, Galway, and London. It serves as a tribute to humanity's quest for meaning and grace, showcasing a writer at the peak of his craft, who can envision vastness even within the smallest details of life.

The debut novel from National Book Award winner and Booker nominee Colum McCann 'Colum McCann conjures a hugely inventive debut' Observer 'McCann writes equally well about Ireland, America and Mexico, and he links past and present in a finely woven narrative: Songdogs is a vivid, beautifully measured book' Sunday Times __________________ Colum McCann's first novel goes back to the years before the Spanish Civil War, following the adventures of a peripatetic Irish photographer from the war-strewn shores of Europe to the exotic plains of Mexico. The story is told in the words of the photographer's only son, a wanderer himself, who uses his father's unreliable memories and the fading remnants of his art to piece together his family history and explain the mystery surrounding his mother - a Mexican beauty brought back by his father to Ireland.

"A Russian peasant who became an international legend, a Cold War exile who inspired the adoration of millions, an artist whose name was a byword for genius, sex, and excess. The magnificence of Rudolf Nureyev's life and work is known, but now Colum McCann reinvents this figure through the light he shed on the lives of those who knew him." Boldly embellishing the biographical facts, McCann tells the story through a chorus of voices. There is Anna Vasileva, Rudi's first ballet teacher, who, banished from St. Petersburg, rescues her preternaturally talented protege from the stunted life of his town; Yulia, whose sexual and artistic ambitions are thwarted by her Soviet-sanctioned marriage; Victor, a decadent Venezuelan, who revels in the hedonism of the gay celebrity set; Odile, the legendary cook, who finds love at middle age while feeding the great and their hangers-on. Spanning four decades and many worlds, from the killing fields of World War II to the wild abandon of New York's gaudy eighties, Dancer is peopled by a large cast of characters, obscure and famous, real and imagined.

Emily watches as two airmen emerge from the carnage of World War One to pilot the first non-stop transatlantic flight. Among the mail being carried on the aircraft is a letter which will not be opened for almost 100 years. Senator George Mitchell criss-crosses the ocean in search of an elusive peace.

'McCann returns to Ireland with this collection, turning his measured gaze and incisive prose to the country's recent history with devastating effect' Maggie O'Farrell 'McCann once again shows why he is one of the best writers in the world ... Deeply moving and powerfully written, these are likely to become classics' Big Issue ___________________ One powerful novella, with two thematically linked short stories on either side of it, forms the basis of Everything in This Country Must. Although these are stories about Ireland and the Troubles, they have an almost mythical rather than a political feel. In the title story, four young soldiers help a farmer and his daughter free their horse from a stream in flood, unable to understand that their help will never be anything but an insult. In the novella, Hunger Strike, a young boy and his mother flee to Galway as the boy's uncle succumbs to a hunger strike in a Derry gaol. In Wood, a ten-year-old boy is asked by his mother to make poles for the marching season. ___________________ 'Colum McCann's stories are brooding, meditative and lyrically controlled to that delicate point where the emotion within them intensifies with each succeeding reading and recognition. The political turmoil of Northern Ireland finds here an answering, subtly respondent voice - wonderfully skilled and deeply felt' Seamus Deane

At the turn of the century, New York's sandhogs burrowed beneath the East River, digging the tunnels that would link Brooklyn to Manhattan; many decades later, those same tunnels offer refuge to the desperate and homeless. Spanning 70 years, McCann's acclaimed novel tells the story of three generations bound to the tunnels by ill-fated loves, unintended crimes, and social taboos.