A Voice for the Angry
The Killing of the Second Dog Marek Hłasko
Translation Tomasz Mirkowicz
Hlasko’s writing combines brutal realism with smoky, hardboiled dialogue in a bleak world where violence is the norm and love is often an act.
A self-taught writer with an uncanny gift for narrative and dialogue … a born rebel and troublemaker of immense charm
Roman Polanski
Robert and Jacob, two down-and-out Polish con men living in Israel in the early 1960s, are planning to run a scam on an American widow. Robert, who masterminds the scheme, and Jacob who carries it out, are tough, desperate men, exiled from their native land and adrift in Tel Aviv’s hot, nasty underworld. Robert arranges for Jacob to bump into the woman, who has enough trouble with her young son to keep her occupied all day. Her heart is open though, and the men are hoping her wallet will be too. What follows is a story of love, deception, cruelty and shame, as Jacob pretends to fall in love with the American. But it’s not just Jacob who seems to be playing a role; nearly all the characters are actors in an ugly story, complete with murder and suicide.
For translation funding please contact Tomasz Pindel from the Polish Book Institute.
