![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/601\/2020\/07\/threeplasticrooms.jpg\")
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The translation is clearly a major feat: there are linguistic leitmotivs that Zucker retains in the translation \u2013 for example in the prefix \u201ce-\u201d, which is used where sometimes \u201cdigital\u201d would be a more obvious collocation, but where switching to \u201cdigital\u201d would dilute the repetition (and, to be clear, \u201cdigital\u201d wouldn\u2019t work in all cases), but my favourite feature was the hilariously deadpan concatenation of nouns and phrases to describe different sexual references. Here Zucker revels in the range of linguistic possibility: \u201cbangstick\u201d was one of my favourite offerings for penis; there is no ejaculation when a jizzing or a creaming could occur instead; as for sex toys, well, I\u2019ll hand over to Zucker\u2019s translation to show you his full use of outrageously colourful synonyms: \u201cNo dildo, no vibrator. No self-erecting quiverstick, manless wang, pond paddle, sleepytime tingletron, ticklepink for beddy-bye\u201d, and the character of our irascible narrator comes out not only in the tirades that are as tireless as her paid performances, but also in the linguistic idiosyncrasies of single words (\u201cif there is a hell, then fwoop, down they all go\u201d).<\/p>\n
This all seems gloriously effortless, but the translator\u2019s note at the end is particularly interesting, as Zucker notes how H\u016flov\u00e1 plays with language and uses it in innovative and unexpected ways. To read his translation, it is not evident that there was so much agonising behind it \u2013 which is a sign that it\u2019s been done well. Even the occasional thing that struck me as a little odd \u2013 such as the gendering of genitals in English, to reflect the use of grammatical gender in Czech \u2013 is explained convincingly in the translator\u2019s note, so that even if it might not be quite what you might expect, it becomes clear what the text would lose if this aspect were omitted from the translation. So the \u201chammers\u201d are feminine (which sheds a whole new light on the cover illustration!) and the \u201csticker-inners\u201d are masculine.<\/p>\n
Morality is similarly inverted and subverted throughout the narrative, most memorably in the way the narrator describes the services she offers to clients attracted to minors. By satisfying their desires in the conveniently wipe-clean environment of her three plastic rooms, she postulates, she is saving an anonymous real-life 14-year-old from being subjected to the urges of the men in question (\u201cwhat says martyrdom more than the love of a mature woman, saving fuckable babies by luring the enemy to her?\u201d). It is, however, not until the final paragraph that we finally see the context for the vitriolic torrent that constitutes the narrative \u2013 and it\u2019s a twist that took me by surprise. Once it hit me, I looked at everything in a different light \u2013 and that was the great triumph of the story. Three Plastic Rooms <\/em>is unrelenting in both language and content, but beneath the sex scenes as foul as the language used to describe them it throbs with a rawness and a black humour that render this unlikely anti-heroine an addictive narrator.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Translated from Czech by Alex Zucker (Jantar Publishing, 2017) Three Plastic Rooms is narrated by an ageing prostitute, and is an extended internal monologue that offers insight into her musings on the world, her life, and her profession. The opening line erupts with contempt (\u201cI wonder if anyone ever gives her a grinding down to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2429,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[61,251,477,745,987],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nReview copy of Three Plastic Rooms <\/em>provided by Jantar Publishing<\/h6>\n