Summary of It Happened on the First of September (or Some Other Time)
The novel “It Happened on the First of September (or Some Other Time)” follows the lives of four friends: the Czech Jan (or Honza), the Slovak Maria, the Hungarian Peter (or Ronai), and the Jewish Gabriel. Spanning 30 years of Czechoslovak history – from the beginning of the Second World War to the Prague Spring – it focuses on life under the Communist regime in the small town of Levice, in southern Slovakia. The narrative unfolds on the first of September each year, beginning on 1 September 1938 and ending on 1 September 1968.
Reasons to read It Happened on the First of September
Pavol Rankov is a leading contemporary Slovak writer. With “It Happened on the First of September (or Some Other Time)”, he won the European Book Prize in 2020 and the Angelus Central European Literature Award in 2014.
Setting: Levice (Slovakia)
Original title: Stalo sa prvého septembra (alebo inokedy)
Year of publication: 2008
Nr of pages: 267
