EPIFANIA WIKAREGO TRZASKI (The Epiphany of Vicar Trzaska)

Before Morfina, Król and Chołod there was… the epiphany – Epifania wikarego Trzaski.

The opening of a series of debut novels and short stories by Szczepan Twardoch.

Epifania wikarego Trzaski was published in 2007. Lively and witty. Metaphysical and prophetic. Silesian. And relevant, perhaps even more so than at the time of its release.

Father Jan Trzaska, an intellectual in a cassock, is a vicar in a small town in Upper Silesia. He feels like he’s in exile there. But one night he is visited by an unexpected guest. From that moment on, the vicar’s words leave the faithful in awe, and his touch heals. Silesia is increasingly crowded with journalists, clergymen and, above all, patients seeking healing.

‘The novel remains untouched by time, unshaken by waves of literary fashion, and not even weakened by its opening scenes with clunky cars of the communist past. On the contrary. Time has worked in the book’s favour – so have Poland’s fanatical clericalism, troglodytic parish mentality, the church scandals, and the rot of political life. Twardoch saw – I would say he saw clearly and in awe, like a prophet – what was going to happen next. I deeply value Twardoch’s sociological prophetism – most of all when it is at its most iconoclastic.’
Zbigniew Kadłubek (afterword)

The description comes from the publisher’s website.