Vultures among Skyscrapers.

is the title of a new Czech novel, written by an MA student of American Studies, Andreas Patenidis. Find out about the soon-to-be published book through a brisk five-question interview with its author.

1. Vultures among Skyscrapers is an unusual title; could you briefly comment on its significance? This line first occurred to me when I was in Miami. While sitting close to Bayside Market, I noticed that there are huge birds hovering above the city at astounding heights. After a while, I found out that those birds are vultures and they have started migrating into cities. I was fascinated by this idea and did some research. There is a myriad of possible analogies, most importantly, you can think of vultures in mythological (Prometheus) as well as modern sense (vultures as immigrants). 2. The novel is written in Czech. Given that you study in the MA program of American Studies at Charles University, one would expect the novel to be written in English. Can you explain why you decided to write in Czech instead of in English? In his preface to A Personal Record, Joseph Conrad explains why he didn’t write his novel in French, which was his second language after Polish: "I would have been afraid to attempt expression in a language so perfectly 'crystallized'." Besides, Czech is my first language. "Cesta, na které bylo třeba všechno objevit. Cesta, na které bylo třeba všechno zapomenout. Cesta jako neustálá amné- zie. Sloupy, odpadky, kameny, plechovky, ubrousky, obaly, ale hlavně krajnice. Nekonečná krajnice, po stranách s kousky štěrku. Ve vedru se krajina před tebou chvěje. Na kolik byla kra- jina okolo nás reálná a nakolik byla jen iluzorní. A je opravdu krajina okolo nás takovou, jaká je, nebo jen její iluzorní, vedrem rozechvělou tváří? Ničemu okolo si nevěřil, vlnivým kamenům, roztřepeným kouskům skal. Iluzi. Tisíce kilometrů před tebou, tisíce kilometrů za tebou. Žádná muzea, divadla, kina, kulturní centra, opery. Žádné sendviče, bagety a bejgly, zdravé saláty. Žádné fastfoody, bageterie, velké prosklené restaurace, malé putiky na konci města. Žádné památné vrcholky, slavné stavby, hrady a zámky, katedrály, šlechtická sídla a sály. Žádné vyty- čené body na mapě, příští zastávky, cíle a plány. Jen čistý a ne- konečný pohyb. Pohyb bez cíle, cestování. Cestování, které by mohlo ohrozit jedině známé místo. Cestování, které by mohla ohrozit jedině známá osoba. Vše se musí objevit. Vše se musí smazat." 3. What inspired you to write Vultures among Skyscrapers? I started to write because I was unhappy. I write because it makes me happy. 4. You have also published a collection of poems named Veslovat ve slovech (Rowing in Wordsin translation, pictured). Is there any reason why you decided to change to fictional prose? I struggled to achieve poetic prose, attempting to approach writers such as Don DeLillo (note: an American novelist, short story writer, playwright, essayist, author of for example the recently film adaption Cosmopolis). DeLillo’s language casts a spell over the audience. 5. There will be a public reading of your novel – when, where and what can one look forward to? That’s right, I cordially invite everyone to the municipal library at Mariánské náměstí, Prague 1 on the 22th of May and to Dům Čtení, Prague 10 on the 23rd of May. Both events will start at around 6pm. Prepared by Anna Hupcejová