About a book

pseudonymous Peter Pečonka

The Holy Butcher from Šamorín ​and other stories from the time of ​the Little Danube War

Original title: Svätý mäsiar zo Šamorína a iné príbehy z čias Malej dunajskej vojny

Genre: novel

Slovak edition: Artforum

Foreign editions: Czech (Mladá fronta 2019), German (Danube Book 2022)


CONTENT

Perhaps next year the Little Danube War will break out in southern Slovakia. Czech volunteers will ​also be involved in the conflict between the Slovak militia and the Great Hungarian separatists. ​Many people, among them a butcher from Šamorín, an Olympian from Nové Zámky and an expert on ​minefields from Novák, will be faced with the choice of participating in the killing or endangering their ​own lives. Perhaps only a miracle could solve the crisis, because the troops of the European Union, ​as well as the peacekeeping forces of the United Nations, arrive late as always...


REVIEWS



Just the title over eight lines! In addition, a camouflage pattern on the cover. ​What is this? Nicely arranged: the book evokes the desire to open it (which, ​please do - under the paper cover is the title of the book in a translation ​reminiscent of a combination of German, Dutch and English), to turn it (which ​has practical reasons, because both tabs of the cover are written vertically – ​applause for Pečonka!) and play with her in all sorts of ways (QR codes will help ​with this). At first glance, Peter Pečonka's book The Holy Butcher of Šamorín ​with the subtitle And other stories from the time of the Little Danube War is ​exactly like that - playful, enticing, colorful. Well, a book. actually rather a ​"multimedia artifact in the post-digital age", as it is characterized in its ​imprint.On a second, more exploratory look, you will find that there is a good text ​under the whole colorful multimedia concept (from the workshops of Monika ​Saral and Pala Bálik).


Jaroslava Šaková, Knižná revue, Slovak Republic



The next war will break out on the Danube. Pavol Rankov has critics and fans ​under a pseudonym...

We do not know whether it was originally spiteful towards critics, confusion of ​the enemy from among the Slovak nationalists or simply the result of a creative ​crisis and fatigue from the past. What is certain, however, is that Pavol Rankov ​developed another literary existence under the pseudonym Peter Pečonka. As ​Pečonka, he scored in the Povídka literary competition and later published the ​novel Little Danube War (in Slovak under the title The Holy Butcher from ​Šamorín and other stories from the times of the Little Danube War, 2016).While ​Rank's turn to the past is rather melancholic and serious, Pečonka's Little ​Danube War with the subtitle "political thriller from a possible present" is far ​more black-humored, sarcastic and denser in the story. Rather than a thriller, ​however, it is actually a dystopian feature in which the fates of several ​characters intertwine, which simply sow a local conflict between the Slovak ​militia and the Great Hungarian separatists.”


Eva Klíčová, Deník N, Czech Republic





“So, if I were to finally evaluate Petr Pečonka's debut novel, it is necessary to ​highlight especially the author's use of specific humor and irony. The name of ​the Czech company Spytihněv, the characteristically used motto "So this is ​Slovakia", or the characteristic location of the so-called From the Little Danube ​War to tiny South Slovak villages such as Báč or Čukárska Paka are just a few ​examples of author's comedy. Thanks to the grotesqueness of the situations ​and the persuasive portrayal of social moods, the novel aims first and foremost ​to amuse the reader, which the author undoubtedly succeeds in doing. At the ​same time, Pečonka's own style deliberately works with a form approaching the ​scrap genre, but the higher aesthetic character of the text cannot be denied. ​Thus, the author has written a book with a strong sense of humor, which in its ​own way reflects the current era rich in technological inventions, the ​complexity of social relations and the relativization of moral values, which can ​impress even the most demanding reader.”


​​Matúš Guziar, iLiteratura.cz



EXTRACT


First of all, I want to apologize for stripping you naked like this

and transported blindfolded. It was necessary for yours as well of our safety. For location devices. Yes, exactly how ​you say. GPS has changed the life of a guerrilla. You can put that as a title of his article: How GPS changed the life ​and death of a guerrilla! Guerrilla is better label than guerillas, right? More trendy.

Gorilla, bring them some rags, don't let them stand here with bare legs! Even the Gorilla's index finger in the ass ​was part of the personal inspection and not a love foreplay. Although as I look at this blond so he would probably be ​more pleased with the foreplay. Sorry, that's all politically incorrect jokes.

Glasses? No, we will not return them to you now. You know how much top glasses can be fitted with all kinds of crappy ​technology? But when the boys take you away, Gorilla will return all yours things. You won't lose anything; l ​guarantee it with the Gorilla's head! We are though gypsy guerrillas, but not thieves.

I said we on purpose, not me. I'm not the Black Wolf, we are

we are all Black Wolves. The Black Wolfs cannot be? The Black Wolves? That sounds like the name of some old hip-hop ​band from Harlem.

And I recently found out that Die Schwarzen Wölfe was German

a neo-Nazi organization in Alsace. Nothing can be done, we are,

we will not change the name. Maybe soon also in Germany.

We will be more known to France than the Nazis there.

In Hungarian it is Fekete farkasok. I don't know Hungarian

almost not at all, the boys must translate for me - Roland, Goril, Mario.Gyula, the one who cleans his machine gun, ​knows almost nothing in Slovak.

He is from Budapest. That's what we multi-cult guerillas are. Let us they agreed, we need google translator.

You should also do this interview with several people, not only

with me. Then I'll pick some boys for you.

Oh, since we confiscated all your stuff, you don't want us to

did they upload it to my tablet? You give me an email address to which I will send it to you. Well, yes, technology is ​changing the guerrilla's life. Photos?

You can take pictures of me as much as you want, I went all out, but the boys, probably only vaguely, from behind. ​They have families. Roland has children. Roland, and in command! How many children do you have? Three? And with how ​many

women? With four?

Where do we start? About how we communicate with each other?

The Black Wolves are a Roma resistance group made up of volunteers from the territory of Slovakia and Hungary.

Okay, I turned it off. What is the problem? Do you think I'm formal?

O. K. But understand that we also have our interests. When

so to the point! So you are, you claim to be British journalists,

However? And you both happen to have Slovak names and speak in Slovak. Is it a compulsory subject in British schools?

Do you think I will believe you anything? When I am a gypsy, I am automatically stupid, right? Like in those jokes. In ​your Slovak one’s jokes about dirty gypsies. You called us before

fellow blacks, then Roma, then maladjusted groups, today Gypsies. From Roma to Gypsies, from fellow citizens

to the maladaptive group.

Well, let's get to the point: who are you and what are you?! Ah, regional collaborators of several British media. So ​no more editors, associates only. Freelance. Excellent! And for whom

have you done When and where have you been posted before? Convince me that you are not siskars or NBSZ.

Just as you say, I want to check out your articles. Of course

we have internet. After all, we have already agreed that technologies change guerrilla life. I have google open, ​dictate. Atlantic Observer.

The number from the fourteenth of May you say? Here is. Ivan Balaz, Tom Krivos. But you said Tomáš Krivosucký before, ​not Krivos.

A pseudonym because of the English? That they would care if an article in a magazine did someone with a better ​pronounceable name post? That doesn't sound right convincingly.

So tell me at least two more articles. Yes, I'm looking.

London News. Issue. February. Well, yes, there is Balaz and Krivos. That is the article about ethnic conflicts in ​football stadiums?

Sorry, I started. You are looking for national topics

and racial conflicts. We fit in perfectly, he didn't even go east with us very much. No, he is no longer alive. He ​died at

car accident seven years ago. He was knocked down by the expensive car. The bus driver was hit by a truck at the ​pedestrian crossing car. Father was the very paradox.

Mom too, of course. That was the epitome of paradox. In Bratislava she worked as an accountant for rich guys, but once ​a month for us she boarded the train towards Košice and went to go crazy, to throw things around money. When she spent ​too much, her father slapped her, but what I think it didn't bother me that much. It seemed so original to her gypsy.

My father did not raise me as a Roma. He made me study, he controlled. Do I have decent friends? I mostly had none,

because even my classmates were controlled by their parents, and they wouldn't allow them make friends with a gypsy. ​My father also wanted to have – what do you call it?

– white children. That was the contradiction with us. The father took the gadzo because he wanted to blend in with the ​whites. Mom married Roma because she felt that he has a gypsy soul. Well, these two people raised me.





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