Zoli (Littérature étrangère)

This is a powerfully imagined story about a Romani poet who, at many levels, symbolises the tragic fortunes of her people before, during and after the second world war in Czechoslovakia (as it was once known). As a child, Zoli witnessed the terrifying, icy death of most of her family at the hands of the local fascists; she is brought up by her grandfather, who goes against the tradition of illiteracy and teaches her to read and write. This simple act will define her whole life, lead to her reaching the heights of literary celebrity for a brief time in her twenties, followed by a life time of disgrace in the eyes of her people. It's a novel that takes a character, embeds her in the trials of mid-century European history, and pushes her to extremes, to her very limits, both physically and mentally. It's a portrait told with deep sympathy and psychological acuity. It has an almost mythic sense of the importance of song and poetry to embody the soul of a people.Zoli absorbs the ancient songs of her race. She sings these and develops her own songs. We get a flavour of their subject, imagery and poetry in the sample poem that McCann cannily, and beautifully, gives us towards the end of the book. She is persuaded by two men, another poet, and a translator with who she has a passionate affair, to write them down and,despite her severe misgivings, to have them published. Her life rises briefly into fame -she is seen as the voice of her people - and then disgrace when the Communists make of her their poster-girl, a shining example of the proletariat, etc. The Communists drive her people off the road, forcing them into soulless tower blocks, a spiritual death for them all, and Zoli is seen as their stooge, in some superstitious way responsible for their fate. She is exiled, internalising the guilt that comes with this so deeply she is forever in hiding, not just from the world but from herself, her talent silenced.From then on the novel tracks her hardships as she wanders through Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, Italy. These passages are hard to read and perhaps are overdone, but do suggest the plight of the refugee, forever fearful of capture and imprisonment, driven to their limits, a soul in torment. She emerges into a kind of happiness with a man, himself an outcast, and has a daughter who figures as an adult in the last section of the book. At the turn of the century Romani customs, poetry and traditions are the subject of conferences; her daughter helps organise these, and she coaxes her mother back onto the scene. The last two word sentence implies that in old age she finds her voice again, shedding the guilt that her own people so crippled her with for much of her life.It's a humane, authentic and gripping narrative, deeply respectful of its subject. It's loosely based, we are told, on a real life Romani poet who went through a similar experience, powerfully reimagined.

"Things in life have no real beginning, though our stories about them always do," says Zoli Novotna as she recounts her days growing up as a Gypsy in Slovakia in the 1930's. When fascist brutes murder her family and her grandfather ends up bringing her up, author Colum McCann captures Zoli's sense of tradition and nomadic life as she travels with her clan in their ornate caravans all over the countryside, wearing the ritual of gold coins in their hair.Purposely keeping some of the older customs alive, with their modesty laws, whispered names, and their runic signs, the gypsies make a living for themselves across the land, every week a new place, existing almost entirely for music. Especially Zoli who finds consolation and pleasure in singing their songs that shift, and roll and change.Zoli seems to warm to her circumstances, her childhood indeed happy for the most part. Yet the gypsies had been suffering at the foot of the fascists, seen by them no more than wild animals, even by the Hlinkas who were just like the Gestapo. Zoli and her group try to settle as far away from them as much as possible and keep to themselves.Zoli grows older and becomes a woman and meets the Slovak poet, Martin Stransky, who takes her on as his muse and promotes her singing and also convinces her to write her songs down, she indeed becomes something of a superstar. Also paralleling her rise to stardom is the story of the young Stephen Swann who has come to Czechoslovakia, fired up by the thought of revolution as he works as a translator for Stransky.Zoli in the blossom of youth when she meets Swann, and the two begin an affair, both sustained by the sense they are "stepping back into what we all once believed: revolution, equality, and poetry." And Zoli becomes a shining example of this new literary proletariat, with their revolutionary right to reclaim the written word.It doesn't take long, however, for disillusionment to set in at the bleakness and inflexibility of the communist regime, with the country turning sour and losing its edge, "Our cures were so much less powerful than our wounds." Zoli's songs gradually become sad and declamatory, tales of bitterness and treachery, with the verses repeated over and over, "like the falling and layering of so many leaves."Alternating between Zoli's account of her escape to the West and Swann's journey of self-discovery, McCann charts the transformation of a nation and also of her itinerant people. It is impossible to imagine more frightening circumstances than those that Zoli must endure as she walks in the wet winter fields, cast off from everything, her heart broken by the people around her.With great insight, the author brings to the forefront the tragedy of the gypsies and the grand experiment of a government that wanted the best for the gypsies; the Law of 74, the Big Halt, "forty thousand people lumped into one in gigantic tower bocks with running water, electric switches, and heating..."Throughout the course of the story, Zoli learns that none of the old rules, the old taboos, apply although she always holds them dear to her heart. Hers is a fragile existence, as she leans how to survive by tapping into the life-spring that went down to the center of the earth, rising from the well of her childhood.Mike Leonard March 07.

Using the true story of the Gypsy poet Papusza, Colum McCann tells the story of Zoli Novotna, a Romani, a poet, a singer and a Communist. Her family was drowned by Facist guards and her grandfather was forced to flee and join a group of travelling musicians. After the Second World War she became a member of a group of Communist intellectuals, among them Stephen Swann, a young English journalist who is partly the narrator of the novel. Then the Czech Communist party decided to use Zoli - by then quite famous - as a symbol figure for resettlement and political propaganda. She tried to resist but soon realised that not even her poetical works could prevent a judgement which ultimately led her to misery.One wonders whether such a character is worth a novel of some 260 pages. However what makes the book worth reading is the fact that it is very well researched from a social and political point of view and readers interested in the history of Central Europe - Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Austria - from the 1930s till the Velvet Revolution in Prague will find it quite interesting.

Great book- inspired me to read his other novels, but this one is the best.

my new favorite author. II thought Zoli was right up there with "Let the great world spin" - the only book that took me 3x longer than normal to read. I read the first 26 pages four times before I could move on. As a writer/editor, I'd get caught up in the masterful, lyrical quality of the prose, and forget to pay attention to the story. Or I'd get caught up in the story, and fear that I'd missed some tasty turn of phrase. then I'd stop my lovely lady and recite it to her, because...damn...someone's gotta hear this besides me. Always bitter-sweet to read McCann - glad I read it, but sorry its over.

A member of our book club recommended that we read this novel and discuss it. We did so last month. Many of us did not know what the Gypsies went through under both the Nazis and the Russians. It lead to a really good discussion as one of our members who grew up in Germany during that time remembers Gypsies going through her town. This book was fiction but the main character was loosely based on a real Gypsy poet.

had to stop reading halfway through and concede I was not enjoying this novel. While the Roma - oppressed, discriminated against - were individually interesting and sometimes unpredictable. The whites were boring - predictably tortuous or obsequious - and made this a tough read.

"Zoli" is a wonderful portrayal of Gypsy life, hardships, and prejudices. It is carefully researched and beautifully written. It would make a great movie. This book includes actual poetry but "Transatlantic" and "Let the Great World Spin" are written like poetry. When I finished "Zoli" the first time I went back to the beginning and read it straight through again. I understood the beginning better after reading the entire book. It's what I would call circular prose.

I chose this book because I thought the subject matter was interesting. However, I was not fond of the writing style. I found the style very patchy meaning that the author wrote the book as if he were writing poetry rather than a novel. At times I couldn't follow the plot or the thought pattern because I think the author really wanted to write a poem like his main character. The moments that the writing allowed the reader to understand the character were enjoyable but mostly was disappointing.