by Zdenek Jirotka (Author)
On its initial publication in Czech in 1942, Saturnin was a best seller, its gentle satire offering an unexpected if temporary reprieve from the grim reality of the German occupation. In the years since, the novel has been hailed as a classic of Czech literature, and this translation makes it available to English-language readers for the first time which is entirely appropriate, for author Zdenek Jirotka clearly modeled his light comedy on the English masters Jerome K. Jerome and P. G. Wodehouse. The novel's main character, Saturnin, a gentleman's gentleman who obviously owes a debt to Wodehouse's beloved Jeeves, wages a constant battle to protect his master from romantic disaster and intrusive relatives, such as Aunt Catherine, the Prancing Dictionary of Slavic Proverbs. Saturnin will warm the heart of any fan of literary comedy.
Format: Illustrated
Pages: 263
Edition: Classroom
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: 14 Oct 2016
ISBN 10: 8024632888
ISBN 13: 9788024632889
Saturnin . . . has a delicious dry humor and an imaginative flair that makes it much more than just the 'Czech Jeeves.' . . . The writing is rich in homespun wisdom and casual asides that take on a life of their own, leading the reader up charming byways of irrelevance. . . . There are a surprising number of belly-laughs for a novel that is more than half a century old. . . . This first English translation is long overdue.
--Times Literary Supplement