Penguin brings Central European classics to mass market

UK publisher Penguin is launching a series of ten Central European Classics on 6 May.

The series takes readers on a political, social and cultural journey from the optimism of pre 1914 Central Europe to the horrors of the Cold War.

The books are designed to showcase some of the remarkable writing from the region: including novels, short stories, dystopian satire, short fables, through memoirs and essays.

This spring marks the 20th Anniversary since the first free elections in the area (Hungary in March, Romania in May and Czechoslovakia in June).

These novels aim to address the legacy of central Europe and ask if disparate cultures have anything in common? The books include:

• Gyula Krudy: Life is a Dream - Hungarian Short stories 
• Gregor von Rezzori: The Snows of Yesteryear - Cross cultural Memoir 
• Karel Capek: War with the Newts - Czech Novel 
• Ota Pavel: How I Came to Know Fish - Czech Short Stories 
• Josef Skvorecký: The Cowards - Czech Novel 
• E.M. Cioran: A Short History of Decay - Transylvanian / French Philosophy 
• Czeslaw Milosz: Proud to be a Mammal - Polish Essays 
• Slawomir Mrozek: The Elephant - Polish Short Stories 
• György Faludy: My Happy Days in Hell - Hungarian Memoir 
• Thomas Bernhard: Old Masters - Austrian Novel