Úvod do současné trapnosti

After almost a decade of shitting on different aspects of the society, authors of the infamous blog Prigl finally decided to pile up their fragmented articles into one literary treasure, that gracefully shits on everything and everyone. An Introduction to the Contemporary Awkwardness—that's the title of the book. And this is the tattoo-worthy summary of its 230 pages of crystalline misery, deep-cutting demotivation and bug-eyed ugly truth:

The book is full of hard hitting lines that shine a military-grade laser spotlight on every stage of life of a contemporary middle class human.

“The historic destiny of middle class is to be awkward. It has been hardly two hundred years since peasants learned how to read. And here they are today—thinking the world is all theirs. The prohibition of torture brought a strong illusion of freedom and equality into call centers, offices and warehouses alike. This allows every other wimp to feel like they ride the high horse even when their boss pesters them for an incomplete timesheet again. After nine hours of work in vast fields of Excel, they set out on an everyday journey in their leasing-burdened carriages. Together with other noblemen from other corporate kingdoms, they head towards their satellite towns at the horizon as distant as the end of the mortgage that keeps all of this from evaporating like a mirage.”

Being a proper pseudointellectual publication, it contains an index which offers a glimpse of what this body of work is really about. Holiday worker, booze, mortgage, Facebook, to know shit, office, nonstop, boredom, meth, art, open space or Brno are amongst the most frequent words of this uncomfortably accurate social probe camouflaging itself as a nasty satire. Read at your own risk. As you expect to have a good condescending laugh at those poor bastards who did not make it, you might slowly realise that this paper mirror is staring down right at your fucking face.

Authors are Pavel Šplíchal and Jakub Ryška from Prigl, illustrations were absolutely nailed by Alexey Klyuykov and I've put it all together in a former communist printing house, using Kunda (meaning “cunt”) typeface. The whole thing was printed in the one and only Blansko. Inner flaps are filled with a selection of quotes from offended readers of the original blog.

The book has won second (meaning “first” in Brno) prize in The Most Beautiful Czech Books of 2016 and the pathologically freakish bibliophile Martin T. Pecina gave it a shining review, crafting one of the most likable phrases in the history of typography:

Oh, and I made this awkward invitation for the equally awkward book launch.

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