
Pavel Vilikovský's novella Fleeting Snow (Letmý sneh, 2014), depicts the gradual loss of memory of the narrator's wife. The narrator reminisces about his past life with his wife and muses on issues ranging from human nature and the soul, to names and the phonetics of Slovak and indigenous American Indian languages, in an informal, humorous style whose lightness of touch belies the seriousness of his themes.
The book's title refers to its recurring central motif, an avalanche whose inexorable descent cannot be stopped once the critical mass of snow has begun to roll, echoing the unstoppable process of memory loss. Five themes or storylines, intertwined in passages of varying lengths, are labelled with letters of the alphabet and numbers in a playful allusion to scholarly works and musical compositions.
'Few writers more delightfully fulfil the internationally ordained mission of the Central European writer to tell stories that lay bare the bittersweet mysteries of human existence with empathy, erudition and a certain swagger than Pavel Vilikovský. How wonderful that, with the publication of this translation, English-speaking readers may too be charmed, tickled and moved by the games he plays!' Rajendra Chitnis, University of Bristol