Paweł Huelle
The Last Supper
Ostatnia wieczerza
About the author:
Also by this author:
Who Was David Weiser?
Castorp
Mercedes-Benz
The Other Stories
Stories for a Time of Relocation
Cold Sea Tales
The Last Supper
Ostatnia wieczerza
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UK: Serpent’s Tail
Germany: CH Beck
Russia: NLO
Portugal: Principia
Hungary: Europa
Slovvenia: Modrijan
The action of Pawel Huelle’s newest novel takes place in Gdansk, during a single day, in the indescript, but not too distant future. The city has undergone some substantial changes; a couple of streets have again switched names, mosques have sprung up near churches, the lives of the residents are sporadically paralyzed by mysterious explosions—in which some see the workings of Islamic fundamentalists, others the workings of a madman, while others still suspect sabotage by the producer of Monsignore brand wine.
A group of friends from old times are heading to a photo session organized by Matthew, their mutual friend, who wants to paint The Last Supper. Among the friends are the idealist doctor Lewada who’s been sent to the provinces; the untiring organizer of Truth Pilgrimages, Antoni Berda; business man and compulsive sexaholic Jan Wybrański; and finally, the narrator of the story, who’s studying Greek and is passionately interested in the history of Jerusalem. For each of them, this day, full of activities and unforeseeable coincidences will prove significant in another way: each of them will have to confront their past and their significant existential choices. The fate of the protagonists—in whom, as if in a mirror, a whole generation of Poles can see themselves – is just one tier of this exceptionally dense literary work. Using Mateusz’s painting as a springboard the book also continually takes up the controversies surrounding modern art. In the background a third, no less significant, topic emerges: the growing influence of Islam in European culture as it crosses over into more and more European nations. The Last Supper for all its structural mastery, erudite finesse and its handy dose of humour, is above all a merciless reckoning with Polish religiosity; it is a poignant questioning of who we actually are and what really constitutes our faith.
About the author:
Paweł Huelle is a novelist and poet. He was born in Gdańsk in 1957 and graduated in Polish Philology at the University of Gdańsk. He worked as a university lecturer, journalist and director of the Gdańsk Polish Television Centre. Honoured with many prestigious literary awards, Huelle is one of the most successful contemporary Polish writers.
His first novel Who Was David Weiser (1987) was hailed by the critics as “the book of the decade,” “a masterpiece” and “a literary triumph” and has been published, among others, in Germany, Spain, France and Finland. It is a story of a mysterious disappearance of a Jewish boy during his summer vacations. Many years later Dawidek’s friend sets out to investigate the events that came to shape his entire life. The novel has been described as a coming-of-age story, an adventure novel or even as a philosophical treatise.
Like Who Was David Weiser, Huelle’s next two books Stories for a Time of Relocation (1991) and First Love and Other Stories (1996) are set in his home town of Gdańsk and its environs, even though they are concerned with different historical periods and social milieus.
His first novel Who Was David Weiser (1987) was hailed by the critics as “the book of the decade,” “a masterpiece” and “a literary triumph” and has been published, among others, in Germany, Spain, France and Finland. It is a story of a mysterious disappearance of a Jewish boy during his summer vacations. Many years later Dawidek’s friend sets out to investigate the events that came to shape his entire life. The novel has been described as a coming-of-age story, an adventure novel or even as a philosophical treatise.
Like Who Was David Weiser, Huelle’s next two books Stories for a Time of Relocation (1991) and First Love and Other Stories (1996) are set in his home town of Gdańsk and its environs, even though they are concerned with different historical periods and social milieus.
Also by this author:
Who Was David Weiser?
Castorp
Mercedes-Benz
The Other Stories
Stories for a Time of Relocation
Cold Sea Tales
Copyright © by Społeczny Instytut Wydawniczy Znak 2007, wykonanie serwisu Indecity