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A Treatise on Shelling Beans
Traktat o łuskaniu fasoli
Wiesław Myśliwski (born 1932)
Translated by Bill Johnston
English editions
In EnglishA Treatise on Shelling Beans
Archipelago Books · United States · 2013
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An old man looks after empty summer houses by a reservoir; a stranger from town drops by to buy beans and stays to listen. The talk of a lonely caretaker grows into the story of his life, a single great monologue: a childhood in which his family was murdered while he hid in a dugout and partisans took him in, youth on 1950s building sites, years in the West playing the saxophone, and finally this quiet province, where he did not end up by chance. He tells of the dogs he rescued and of a chance meeting abroad, and asks whether chance is an order we cannot recognise.
AI-generated summary
About the book
- Form
- Novel
- Length
- 398 pages in the original
- Genres
- Historical, War (assigned by AI)
- Set in
- Poland
- First published
- 2006 by Znak
- Author's age
- 74 when first published
- ISBN
9788324006809 (original)
9781935744900 (Archipelago Books, United States)
- More
- Wikidata