Of Kids & Parents

In Europe, taking a walk is a cultural phenomenon having an almost mystical import. It connects physical activity with meditation, silence within amid the tumult without. Taking its cue both from Joyce’s Ulysses and Hrabal’s stream of anecdote, Of Kids & Parents is about a father and son taking a walk through Prague, over the course of which, and in the pubs and bars they stop into, their personal lives are revealed as entwined with the past sixty years of upheaval in their corner of Europe. One’s small history is inseparable from the large History that is played out on the world’s stage: families are uprooted, relationships fail, and still life goes on as it always does. Hakl’s genius is his ability to mesh the two into a seamless flow of dialogue.

As the father tells his son: Nothing’s been new in this world for more than two billion years, it’s all just variations on the same theme of carbon, hydrogen, helium, and nitrogen. The point being that even though Prague over the course of a century has experienced monarchy, democracy, fascism, communism, and democratic capitalism once again, as wars, putsches, and revolutions have come and gone, what really has changed?

The novel was awarded the Magnesia Litera Book of the Year in 2002 and is currently being made into a feature film due for release in 2008.