Dancing bears
E-book, Czech
Dancing bears
In this book by Witold Szabłowski, you will discover the unusual story of the last Bulgarian bear keepers and their trained bears, who have had their chains removed and are being taught to live freely, without being drilled. The author finds a surprising parallel between the fate of these animals and the development of post-communist countries in the Eastern Bloc. Using a powerful metaphor, he shows us how complex the path to freedom can be for a society that lived for many years behind the Iron Curtain, and how difficult it is for many to come to terms with the new reality. In his reports from Cuba, Poland, Albania, Serbia, Kosovo, Greece, Ukraine, Estonia, and Georgia, the author also finds that it is sometimes easier to change a regime than people's mentality. While travelling to meet his subjects, he examines the reaction of people in Kosovo to their newly gained independence, listens to locals in Cuba as they worry about Fidel Castro's life, and hears from guides in Stalin's museum in Gori who still adore the leader. He explores the attitude of Ukrainians towards potentially joining the European Union, spends a night at a London station with a homeless Polish woman, searches for crumbling Albanian bunkers, and joins a Serbian travel agency to follow in the footsteps of Radovan Karadžić. It seems that in his stories, which are full of absurdity and dark humour, we are all dancing bears for whom freedom brings relief, but also uncertainty and pain.
Published in cooperation with the publishing house Jaroslava Jiskrová - Máj.
Samples to download:
Dokořán, s.r.o., Holečkova 9, Praha 5, 15000 Česká republika, 251 560 328, [email protected], [email protected]
