Nest Of Worlds

Author: Marek S. Huberath

To illustrate the problems associated with translation, this novel was a major success in its native Poland, but even though there was a very fine translation already in existence by Michael Kandel, it took a ridiculously long time for any publisher to take on the English language version. Ridiculous, because this is the sort of book that would have been a sensation if it had been published first in English.It is set in a world where, every 35 years, everyone must move to a new Land, where their social status (determined by the colour of their hair) and even their name will be different. At first, as we explore this strange world, it seems as though we are reading a Kafkaesque satire on communism. But then it starts to get weirder, because someone is reading a book called Nest of Worlds which describes a world subtly different from the one we are reading about. And within that novel, someone is reading a book called Nest of Worlds which describes a place that is different yet again. Moreover, everyone who reads Nest of Worlds, even if they pick up the exact same copy, reads a different story. The phantasmagoria of worlds nested within worlds is literally breathtaking.Why it's on the listOne of the pleasures of reading work in translation is that it can introduce writers who clearly deserve to be much more widely known than they are; Huberath is one such writer.