At the end of last year, the writer Jozef Banáš came out with a new motivational novel, Tichá rebelka Timravathis time about an important female personality of our history. According to him, if Bozena Slančíková Timrava lived today, she would probably rightly deserve the title of rebel. During her life, she rejected conventions, lived freely, was direct and commented on social shortcomings with irony in her works.
She was an important Slovak novelist and one of the most prominent representatives of realism in Slovak literature. She chose the pseudonym Timrava after a well located near her native village of Polichno, where she lived most of her life. The news won over readers and 10,000 books disappeared from bookstores in three months. “I just heard from the publisher… and I’m speechless. I thank you from the bottom of my heart,” Banáš responded to the number of titles sold.
The father of presenter Adela Vinczeová can also boast that he belongs to our most translated authors. It looks like Timrava will also get its exotic translation. “Friends, I still can’t believe the news I received from Egypt. An important Cairo cultural and publishing center has expressed interest in publishing the novel The Silent Rebel – Timrava,” an excited Banáš shouted to the world.
“All my previous biographies, starting with Dubček, Štefánik, Bať, and ending with Stodola, have the potential to be translated into foreign languages (which is already happening), but I did not think about a foreign translation for the supremely Slovak Timrava. And yet, as a potential publisher wrote to me, the novel is interesting not only because of the famous Slovak writer, but also because it is the story of a brave and self-confident woman who can be an example to many women in Arab countries,” he explained to his followers on Facebook.
He has kept the name of the publisher and translator to himself for now and plans to reveal them only when the matter is resolved. However, he posted the message he received. “I am very pleased and at the same time greatly appreciate the opportunity to read and translate one of the most important literary works of the creative journey of the important Slovak writer Timrava. I see her as an inspiring role model for new generations of marginalized women writers in the Arab world,” wrote an Egyptian bohemian and Slovak writer to Banáš. Whether the news will reach the Arab world is still questionable. However, the author is keeping his fingers crossed.
