Radio Night

»I have always dreamt of writing a novel that has a sound,« says Yuri Andrukhovych, who has spent his life singing, rehearsing with his band and playing countless concerts. His latest work has already been classed an »acoustic novel«. In the novel Radio Night, the author creates a linguistic firework, presenting himself as an artist inspired by music, at the height of the political events in Eastern Europe. It is set at the time of climate protests, the onset of a pandemic and the unchanged threat from Russia – a time when hopes for radical change are buried.

Andrukhovych’s hero, rock musician Josip Rotsky, supported the revolution in his home country by being a »barricade pianist«. Forced into exile, he earns his living playing salon music. In a Swiss hotel he is forced to perform for his country’s dictator. He throws an egg at him, accidentally killing him.

After his release from prison, Rotsky retreats to the Carpathian Mountains, where he is soon found by secret service agents and other sinister characters who are out to get him. His escape takes him as far as Greece – with his raven Edgar and his lover Animé as his faithful companions. He ends up on a prison island on the prime meridian, where he hosts his own radio programme: »Radio Night« – his own label that allows him to broadcast music, poetry and good stories into a darkening world.

Andrukhovych’s previous novels were written in the 1990s. The works Recreations (Рекреаці, 1992), The Moscoviad (Московіада, 1993) and Perverzion (Перверзія, 1996) represent a radical renewal of Ukrainian literature. With Twelve Circles (Дванадцять обручів, 2003), Galician postmodernism reached its temporary peak. After almost twenty years, the author now presents his fifth novel, Radio Night. A revolutionary saga, biographical burlesque and agent thriller set against the backdrop of the immediate present – Andrukhovych pulls out all the artistic stops to counter the fears and real threats with the sovereignty of imagination. Radio Night received great acclaim from readers and critics alike.

»The heterogeneous plot elements, the ludicrous twists and turns of the events are connected by fantastic swerves and incredible motifs [...] Rock music and sex, grit and love – Radio Night raises the unmistakably late-pubescent traits of its protagonist to a very entertaining carnivalesque level through acceleration and postmodern irony.« Jörg Plath, Neue Zürcher Zeitung

»Through the form of the action-packed picaresque novel, Andrukhovych not only has licence for rapid twists and turns, but also for all kinds of fairytale-like things [...] But under the wild, chaotic, sometimes comical shell there is a bitter, black core, a universal sadness about the victims of history, reminiscent of Walter Benjamin.« Richard Kämmerlings, Die Welt

»Today, Yuri Andrukhovych‘s Radio Night goes on the air: a contemporary novel as well as a distorted picture, of dismaying hopelessness, yet at the same time a paragon of laughter.« Christian Thomas, Frankfurter Rundschau

»The narrative sophistication is impressive [...] The novel shows an enormous wealth of references« Jens Uthoff, taz. die tageszeitung

»[...] so wild and light, full of literary and historical allusions, that [the novel] can cause a reading frenzy.« Cornelia Geissler, Berliner Zeitung

»[...] a highly sophisticated literary mix of genres, in which we can find elements of fairy tales as well as comedic ones. There are echoes of pop literature as well as allusions to classics of world literature.« Norma Schneider, neues deutschland

»When Yuri Andrukhovych starts up his powerful narrative machine, a state of emergency is created immediately. Poetically and politically.« Werner Krause, Kleine Zeitung, Graz

»Irony and deep sadness, dark historical and lurid fictional scenes, biographical details and creative fibbing – in his recently published novel Radio Night, Yuri Andrukhovych has created a brilliant narrative stream that won’t let you out of its grip any time soon.« Cornelius Hell, Die Presse

»Reading this book takes you on a mad trip, hurling from association to association, picking up literary references, diving into frenzy and dim cellar bars [...]« Peter Helling, NDR Kultur

»Andrukhovych’s literary work is a [...] melting pot: cross-references and allusions are layered on top of one another, allowing things to shine through more or less clearly.« Kristine Harthauer, SWR2

»Yuri Andrukhovych cleverly uses his hero’s story to talk about the political developments in Ukraine over the last few decades.« ORF