Stefan Zweigwas born in 1881 in Vienna, a member - Pushkin Press

The Essence of Place
Petr Král
Translated from the French by
ChriStoPher MonCrieff
The Essence of Place is a personal memoir of Petr
Král’s experiences growing up in post-war Czechoslovakia
and subsequent years in Paris.
Armed only with his poetic sensibility, Král sets
out to explore our relationship with the places
that we inhabit and with the apparently unremarkable
everyday objects, which often inform
and enrich our lives.
Král bears witness to Flaubert’s observation that
“in order for something to become interesting, we
simply have to look at it for a long time”. He reveals
not only the inner life—the very essence—of
mundane objects and places, but also simple yet
profound truths about ourselves.
Publication: SPring 2012
ISBN 9781906548872 • 288pp • £12
Petr Král, born in Czechoslovakia in
1941, was a member of the Czech surrealist movement.
He moved to Paris in 1968, where he has a considerable
reputation as a poet and essayist. He now lives in
Prague. The Essence of Place is a worthy successor to
Král’s Working Knowledge published by Pushkin Press
in 2008, and Loving Venice in 2011.