A Cosmopolitan and a European: An interview with Jozef Banáš

October 11th, 2012. Interviewer: Josette Baer   JOSETTE BAER: Every book you have published since 2008 has topped Slovakia’s bestseller list. Your novel about Alexander Dubček made you the bestselling Slovak author in the Czech Republic. What’s the secret of your success?   JOZEF BANÁŠ:In spite of the fact that I have been a member of the Communist Party – how this happened is described in my novel Zona nadšenia (The Jubilation Zone) – people trust me. The idea that every communist is evil and every democrat good is at odds with reality. Willy Brandt once […]

Review Zastavte Dubčeka KOSMAS JBAER

March 11th, 2012. Stop Dubček! The story of the man who annoyed the powerful 1). (Jozef Banáš. Zastavte Dubčeka! Príbeh človeka, ktorý prekážal mocným) Bratislava: Ikar, 2009, ISBN: 978-80-551-2107-9. Reviewed by Josette Baer, University of Zurich, Switzerland. Alexander Dubček (1921–1992) is probably the best-known Slovak, although most people still think of him as being of Czech origin. As the symbol of the reforms of the Prague Spring of 1968, Dubček’s fate after the invasion of the Warsaw pact troops mirrored, to some extent, that of his fellow citizens: the conservative party members whom Moscow put into […]